Pa. Senate Sends Scaled-Down Budget To The Governor

The latest on the efforts to end Pennsylvania state government’s almost 6-month-old budget stalemate.

Lawmakers are considering their options amid the wreckage of a deal between Gov. Tom Wolf and top lawmakers to end Pennsylvania’s almost six-month budget stalemate. Sticking points include how to pay for education-spending increases the governor wants and how to trim pension benefits for state employees, a Republican priority. Along with opposition from every House Democrat and some moderate Republicans, it went down, 149-52. It was agreed to by the governor, Republican and Democratic Senate caucuses and the Democratic House caucus.

Although Wolf isn’t talking about his plans, he took to Facebook on Thursday to blast “extremist Republicans” and urge supporters to “continue our fight for historic education funding”. “A stopgap budget does not change the status quo that Harrisburg has accepted for too long”.

At this pivotal moment in USA history, when our leaders ought to be standing stronger and fighting harder than ever for us – they’ve chosen to wave a white flag in the face of government overreach and overspending.

The budget impasse has held up billions of dollars in state aid.

Only one other state, Illinois, has failed to pass a budget for the 2015-2016 fiscal year. No talks were scheduled heading into the Christmas holiday.

The coalition sent a bipartisan spending bill over a key procedural hurdle, raising the possibility that it could send the main appropriations bill in a $30.8 billion spending package to Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s desk as early as Wednesday.

The bill approved by the Senate on Wednesday also conflicts with the bipartisan $30.8 billion, Wolf-backed spending plan that the Senate approved December 8. “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. “What is happening in Pennsylvania is nobody is in charge”. On Saturday, House Democrats helped Republicans defeat pension legislation that Senate GOP majority leaders had tied to their support for a tax increase. But House Republicans revolted against the size of the tax and spending bills.

The state budget mess is getting messier and legislators are running out of patience, as the battle to get an agreement grows uglier by the day. Wolf’s office said a decision on whether to sign or veto the bill could take days.

Here in Chester County, one former legislator is asking whether the time has come to dissolve the state government and start over, something she notes is a right reserved to the people of the state in the Pennsylvania Constitution. “They passed the buck to our local communities to deal with their problems by providing inadequate state support”.

“Now is not the time to add to that tax burden”, said Nathan Benefield, vice president of policy analysis at the Commonwealth Foundation, a free-market think tank in Harrisburg, Pa.