Wolf says stopgap budget would prompt 8k furloughs, cuts

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

House minority leader Nancy Pelosi last week credited a “desperate thirst” among Republicans to lift the ban on exporting oil for big Democratic victories in the budget bill, including the blocking of efforts to defund Planned Parenthood and winning a five-year extension of tax credits for renewable energy.

The only two things in the constitution for them to do is to provide a thorough and efficient education for students in Pennsylvania and pass a budget each year. Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre, said the next move should be for the House to send over a full-year budget without any tax increases. On Monday, Christiana called for passage of the stopgap, saying Wolf’s threatened veto should not deter the House from voting on it. On Tuesday, Christiana switched sides.

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.

“Believe me – many, many members who voted “no” in there are very glad this happened”, said Taylor.

Details of the tax package haven’t been made public. “I promised the governor that we’re doing this in order to get the money out to those agencies and schools that may not be able to open after the holidays and I will continue to negotiate in order to get a full, 12-month budget”.

The House went into the day making people believe it was going to be moving a $28.2 billion stopgap budget into position for a final vote possibly on Wednesday.

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.

A small number of the House’s 119 Republicans, largely from swing districts in southeastern Pennsylvania, broke ranks to join all 83 Democrats and form a majority. He said the pension changes were needed to address costs that have been increasing for school districts and state government.

Rep. Steve Santarsiero, D-Bucks, also stood in support of putting the spending bill on track for a House vote.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., whose party took control of the upper chamber in January, cited the legislation as an example of what can be accomplished by a Senate with a higher objective. If the House amends the current bill, it would be kicked back to the Senate for another vote on those changes.

“I can not stand here and vote for a bill that tells middle-class Americans, students and veterans, doctors and nurses, mothers and fathers and our seniors that these are our values”, Manchin said.

If the House passes the amended bill but no tax code, a new record of gridlock will be set. 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?

He added that passing the stop gap, “wouldn’t get us anywhere”.