Lawmakers eye options amid Pennsylvania budget deal’s defeat

In a dramatic and unexpected twist, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Tuesday reversed course and positioned itself to vote on the $30.8 billion budget plan long touted by Gov. Wolf and Senate Republicans, setting up a sprint toward potentially sealing a long-overdue budget deal by Christmas.

Minority Leader Frank Dermody, D-Oakmont, urged House members to support the $30.8 billion framework budget, calling it “our only pathway” to an an agreement between the Democratic governor and the Republican-controlled House and Senate.

A prominent Pennsylvania union condemned state Republican lawmakers Tuesday for proposing a short-term spending budget after their pension reform plan failed.

“Change is hard, and clearly more so given this legislature, but we must continue our fight for historic education funding that will begin to restore the cuts from five years ago, and a budget that is balanced, paid for, and fixes our deficit”, Wolf said in the statement.

It includes $150 million in additional aid for public schools; the bipartisan deal backed by Wolf would have delivered $350 million, a 6 percent increase.

On Saturday, conservatives helped defeat pension legislation that Senate Republican leaders had tied to their support for the tax and spending package.

“It was over a trillion dollars, it was all lumped together, 2,242 pages, nobody read it, so frankly my biggest complaint is that I have no idea what kind of things they stuck in that bill in the middle of the night”, Senator Paul, R-Ky., said.

“The fact is, right now, there is not an agreement with the Senate or the governor on a final spending plan”, said House GOP spokesman Steve Miskin.

Philadelphia, the state’s largest school district, has said it will have to shut its doors in late January if the budget stalemate is not resolved soon.

“After that vote happened on the House floor, we immediately went into a mode to get all the other bills ready for consideration today [Wednesday] and finalize and send to the Governor’s desk”, said Rep. Dave Reed, (R) 62nd District, Majority Leader. He could sign it, let it become law after 10 days without his signature, veto it or eliminate spending lines individually.

House Republicans haven’t given details about the amount or duration of the spending package. The House Republicans agreed to.

Gov. Tom Wolf is facing a decision over what to with a last-ditch spending bill sent to him without the increase in public school aid he had sought. House Republicans, who favor a stronger measure to privatize liquor and wine sales, say it can’t pass the chamber.

Some said the budget process has been so fraught because several historically intractable issues, such as raising taxes and cutting pensions, have come together in a single budget. “We need a full-year budget and the governor is still going to stand strong on his commitment to funding our schools and fixing our deficit and balancing our budget”, press secretary Jeff Sheridan said.

“This (vote) is not the end of the discussion”, Mr. Corman said. A temporary rule adopted by the House on Tuesday allowed the bill to advance with a simple majority vote, instead of the usual required sum of 102 votes.