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The short explanation of this alert was:

UPDATE: On Friday September 11, Democrats and Republicans sent Governor Rendell a budget compromise that included $11 million for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts - $1 million in admin costs and $10 million for grants.

A budget conference committee will now meet to deliberate on the budget. Three members from the Senate and three members from the House will make up the committee.

The members of the committee are:

• Senator Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware: Pileggi is the Senate majority leader and former mayor of Chester. He has stood with the party against any increase in the income tax and zero cultural funding.
• Senator Jake Corman, R-Centre: Corman is the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and has stood with the party like Pileggi against tax increases and cultural funding.
• Senator Jay Costa, D-Allegheny: Costa is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, and has spoken publicly on the importance of arts and culture, both on the Senate floor and at the Rally for the Arts in the Capitol Rotunda.
• Representative Dwight Evans, D-Philadelphia: He's the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and his office crafted the $29.1 billion budget plan that would retain cultural funding.
• Todd Eachus, D-Luzerne: Eachus is the Majority Leader of the House.
• Sam Smith, R-Jefferson: He's the House Minority Leader, and voted for a budget that would eliminate cultural funding.

The committee produces what's known as a "conference report." In this case, that will be a compromise budget bill that would subject to a straight up or down vote in the House and Senate. It cannot be amended or tinkered with in any way. Governor Rendell also has the authority to veto the report if it does not meet his standards.

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