HARRISBURG, Pa. — Republicans and Democrats are feuding over whether a roughly $40 billion budget package negotiated behind closed doors and passed within hours of becoming public includes money for the state auditor general to begin auditing election results.
The idea to create an election-auditing bureau gained currency in the Republican-controlled Legislature amid former President Donald Trump’s baseless conspiracy theories about Democrats stealing the election.
House Speaker Bryan Cutler maintains that budget legislation carries $3.1 million for a bureau of election audits with broad authority. Gov. Tom Wolf says there was no agreement to fund an election-auditing bureau in budget legislation.
Critics say an election-auditing bureau is duplicative.
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