HARRISBURG - Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf remained quiet Tuesday about how he will handle a Republican-penned spending bill as Democratic lawmakers urged him to release money to keep schools and agricultural extension offices across Pennsylvania from closing.

Wolf also continued to make his case publicly that the $6.6 billion spending package he has threatened to veto is out of balance and that the Republican-controlled Legislature must fix next year's projected $2 billion deficit with a tax increase."I continue to do what I have been doing all along, which is stand up for a responsible budget," Wolf said during a Tuesday morning interview on KDKA-AM radio in Pittsburgh. "This isn't it. We have a real problem staring us in the face. … All the suffering that we're on the verge of right now is going to be multiplied if we don't get the math right here. This is not posturing, this is about Pennsylvania's future and we all need to do the right thing in Harrisburg, and that's what I'm trying to do."Top Republican lawmakers have not committed to increasing taxes and pointed out they whittled down a similarly sized projected deficit in the current fiscal year without a tax increase. They urged Wolf to sign the spending package to end nine months of budget gridlock and prevent another credit downgrade."We have sent him the equivalent of a life preserver, a life boat and now the entire U.S. Coast Guard to save him from a box he put himself in," Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, said.Wolf reiterated Tuesday that he believes Democratic lawmakers can turn back any Republican effort to override a veto. However, Scarnati said he is confident a gridlock-weary Legislature will override a Wolf veto.Sen. John Blake, D-Lackawanna, met with Wolf on Tuesday and urged him to release money for schools, agricultural extension offices and hospitals that get aid to serve various critical niche needs. Wolf had vetoed the money from a Republican spending package that passed in December."The last words he told me before I left his office was, 'I've not made up my mind,' " Blake said.Last year, Wolf sought a multibillion-dollar tax increase to resolve a long-term deficit that has damaged Pennsylvania's credit rating and to funnel more money to public schools still digging out from 2011's budget-balancing funding cuts.A bipartisan agreement last November would have achieved some of what Wolf wanted, but it collapsed after House GOP leaders pulled their support. Wolf authorized $23.4 billion from a subsequent Republican spending measure, but vetoed another $6 billion for schools, hospitals and prisons.Nearly $600 million for universities also is waiting in the wings.Now, the state is spending money on prisons and Medicaid beyond its statutory authority, Penn State has threatened to shut down agricultural extension offices starting May 1 and public schools are borrowing to stay open.Lawmakers are fretting that some school districts cannot get a loan and that Wolf's Department of Education cannot keep them from closing down. East Allegheny School District's superintendent warned that the last paychecks will go out Friday while administrators try to figure out where to find the money for another payroll.The spending package sent to Wolf's desk last week would deliver half of the new money the governor wanted for public schools - a $200 million increase, instead of a $400 million increase - without a tax increase. To close the deficit, Republicans are counting on $1.1 billion in spare cash, delayed payments for various obligations and savings in Medicaid programs.