Votes signal breakthrough in Pennsylvania budget stalemate

Supporters of the spending plan successfully maneuvered it Tuesday through a series of razor-thin votes and a floor challenge to insist that members vote in person, rather than by proxy from afar. “We’re not going to pass legislation based on rumors and innuendos”, said Steve Miskin, a spokesman for the House Republican caucus. Before four Wednesday afternoon the Senate passed the budget, which the House proposed on December 8th. “We have a budget bill we can vote on now that will get critical funding to our schools and our human service providers”, he continued in a statement. “What was unacceptable then is still unacceptable now – what have these last six months meant?” There, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner is pushing for curbs to public-sector unions as a condition to raise taxes to meet a projected $5 billion budget shortfall.

The ball is in Governor Wolf’s court after a desperate state Senate Wednesday sent the governor a budget he doesn’t want.

“It’s been quite a day”, said state Rep. Kate Klunk, R-Hanover.

The state House on Wednesday had been expected to consider a vote on the Wolf-supported budget plan, which had already been approved by the Senate.

Pennsylvania has been without a budget since the start of July, leaving schools and government agencies scrambling to pay bills.

The Harrisburg equivalent of the Wicked Witch’s flying monkeys are the many twists and turns in the budget process that began with Wolf’s early-March budget proposal. Even though Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi backed the plan and urged fellow Democrats to vote for it, she had said Thursday she wasn’t confident her party could deliver enough votes to help Ryan get it passed. “We’ve been told over and over that we’re on the right path, but everything just goes backward”.

After months of negotiating, a budget framework was in place.

“It’s basically sitting around and saying to one another, like, look… what parliamentary maneuver can we do to put this back on track?” said Rep. John Taylor (R-Philadelphia).

“The Senate decided this is a step we needed to move things forward”, Senate Majority Leader Spokesperson Jennifer Cocher said. If the budget does pass the House, can the governor sign it into law without a revenue package in place to support the new spending?

Along with the pension legislation, other major elements of the bipartisan budget deal remain in limbo.

The plan calls for $350 million in additional school funding, and is likely to be accompanied by a companion bill that makes changes to the state’s pension system.

The Pennsylvania state Senate is advancing budget legislation that it previously opposed. Beer distributorships are not included in the bill, and selling hard liquor would remain under the exclusive jurisdiction of the approximately 600 state-owned stores. Domestic violence shelters are filled to capacity and several school districts have raised the idea of staying closed after the winter break to avoid having to borrow more money.