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HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The clock kept ticking toward decision day for Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf on budget legislation that lacks the money to finance it as negotiators stayed quiet Wednesday about their private discussions. The Capitol was empty, Pennsylvania's Republican-controlled Legislature wasn't in session again and few, if any, lawmakers were in the building. Wolf stayed out of sight, while his press secretary said there is still time and hope to reach an agreement with lawmakers on a revenue package that can fill a $1 billion-plus hole in the state's deficit-riddled budget plan. "I still think we have time to reach agreement and that is our hope," press secretary Jeff Sheridan said Wednesday. Under discussion are higher taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products, a huge expansion of casino-style gambling, increasing taxes on banks and extending the state's 6 percent sales tax to digital downloads. Wednesday was the sixth day without state spending authorization in place for the 2016-17 fiscal year, and Wolf could be left with the decision to veto hundreds of millions of dollars in spending items before signing budget legislation. The absence of a budget as the new fiscal year began was not expected to have an immediate effect on services because agencies can tap surpluses and special funds. Senators were told that they would not be in session Thursday or Friday, and a weekend session remained a possibility, Senate GOP majority spokeswoman Jennifer Kocher said. "We're getting closer and closer," Kocher said of negotiations. On Wolf's desk is the main appropriations bill in a $31.5 billion budget package approved by lawmakers last week. But Wolf has said he would not sign it without sustainable revenues to fund it, and part of the package — spending bills authorizing nearly $600 million for Penn State, Temple, Pitt, Lincoln and Penn — were still pending in the House. Wolf has until midnight Monday to make a decision on it before it becomes law without his signature. On Wednesday, Sheridan said the governor had not decided how to handle the budget bill. Should no revenue package make it through the Legislature before Monday night, Wolf could be left to veto hundreds of millions of dollars from the main appropriations bill to ensure it balances. The gambling legislation that passed the House last week would make Pennsylvania the fourth state to legalize internet gambling, while negotiators have released no specifics on how high taxes would rise on tobacco products, including cigarettes. Republicans have all but killed any election-year consideration of increasing taxes on income, sales or Marcellus Shale natural gas production.

Clock ticks down to another budget decision day for Wolf