As state lawmakers are staring down the prospect of a credit downgrade and the lack of spendable General Fund money in the absence of a balanced budget, the rhetoric and frustration were visibly ramped up Monday as the House Republican Caucus continues to try to work to find some sort of a compromise on $2.2 billion worth of money needed to balance the $31.99 billion budget enacted earlier this summer.

The Pennsylvania Senate on Thursday morning narrowly passed and sent to the House a revenue package to balance the FY 2017-2018 spending plan and close out the FY 2016-2017 deficit.

While narrowly passing the chamber by a 26-24 margin, the revenue package cobbled together by the Senate with a mix of Republican and Democratic support was said to be a product of a chamber aimed at leading the state’s lawmaking bodies through a nearly month-long standoff on how to fund two budgets that are roughly $2.2 billion out of balance.

The Pennsylvania Senate left Harrisburg Tuesday afternoon after a consensus failed to emerge on a plan to plug a $2.2 billion revenue hole that will close out the recently concluded fiscal year and balance the current fiscal year’s spending plan.

At this point, the Senate hopes to return to Harrisburg no later than Monday, though whether they could return sooner remained up in the air as discussions on reaching a revenue compromise continue.

The Pennsylvania Senate returned to voting session Monday as the Commonwealth’s FY 2017-2018 unbalanced spending plan has been in law for a week.

While the Senate did very little actual voting, a lot of the work on Monday was behind the scenes with leaders and staff working across chambers to try and reach agreement on a $2.2 billion revenue package to close out the previous fiscal year and balance the current year’s budget.

Gov. Tom Wolf Monday afternoon announced he was going to allow the $31.99 billion spending plan on his desk to become law without his signature as he and the legislature continue to negotiate on a revenue plan to fully fund state operations.