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Gov. Rendell and legislative leaders reached agreement on a $28 billion state spending plan early this morning after hours of intense negotiations.
"We have the outline of an agreement," said Senate Majority leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware) emerging from talks at 2:20 a.m. Tuesday.
But Pileggi cautioned: "We are not finished. There is more work to do to tie down some of the details."
Pileggi said legislative leaders and the administration would focus on reaching a final deal for the 2010-2011 spending plan when talks resume at 9 a.m. He said the Senate would likely vote on the bill later on Tuesday, but that the state House would have to suspend the rules in order to have a budget to the governor's desk by the deadline of midnight June 30.
He said the final spending amount would be $28 billion "and some change" - a compromise between Rendell's $29 billion proposal and the $27.5 billion that Republicans sought.
Pileggi did not offer additional specifics about how to close the projected $1.5 billion deficit, but said the deal:
Anticipates federal Medicaid funding which is tied up in legislation that has yet to get the votes needed for passage in the U.S. Congress.
Would increase basic education funding.
Include an agreement on a new tax on the extraction of natural gas in the lucrative Marcellus Reserve.
Click here for Philly.com's politics page.
Deal or No Deal? When do we hear job cuts, no charity fundings, no school dollars, and taxes taxes taxes.— FJG JR- Typical politicians. Rather than plan for the very real possibility that they won't get the Medicaid dollars, they simply hope they will just to say they have an "agreement". Try running a business like that and you won't be in business for long.— erformc1
- Harrisburg is a joke. Instead of borrowing from Washington to fund the Medicare gap, plan a budget as if it's not there and not coming...b/c the liklyhood is IT ISN'T!— Citizenc92
- I couldn't agree more....PA foolishly assumed that Congress would allow for the tolling of Interstate 80 as a source of revenue and we see where that got us....ONE BIG DISAPPOINTMENT!!!— Tasha
Comment removed.- Looks like "Fast Eddie" pouted and got his way. Now if he could just get rid of Ackerman and make Philadelphia schools safe for students to attend.— dogman5
- So this is what a well run state looks like. Way to go, Gov. Rendell. Great to see we'll be investing in education. And you got the tax on the gas companies. Without question, the best govenor this state has had in the last 50 years. Oh, and Republicans, we know...Dems are tax and spend - even when they aren't.— MikeP
- MikeP - Republicans are tax and spend too...just they spend on endless foreign wars whereas Dems spend on entitlements and useless "dependant" social programs which ultimatly enslave people. Both Dems and Republians are to blame for this mess. Either way, it doesnt matter the Feds will not approve the Medicare funding anytime soon puting a $800M hole in the budget and Harrisburg will be forced to layoff nearly 20K people.— Citizenc92
- This is a joke - they're like a bunch of dysfunctional spendaholics. Now they will blame the Feds when the budget blows up because the Feds won't pass the FMAP extender. Get ready to build some real Barns On The Parkway to house the cows & goats we will have to start raising to feed our children.— RR
- Mike P, get off the crack. Rendell has been a terrible governor and to say you have a budget depending on money you more than likely won't see is a disgrace. This is an election year and the tax and spend politicians in Washington are trying to pretend they are concerned about our Greece-like deficit. This country from the federal lever down to local governments have to rid themselves of public sector unions. They have more job security with higher pay and outrageously better benefits than people who do the same job in the private sector. So as unemployment continues to be a problem the private sector unions continue to get raises at the expense of hard working Americans. It's almost as if unions are anti-American these days.— ResponsibleAmerican
- This budget anticipates a spike in Medicaid funding to states, FMAP, that was increased to stimulate the economy, but it can't be extended from what I'm reading. There's not even enough Democratic votes in Congress to get the FMAP extension to states. Even if the this funding was unbundled, separated, and left to stand alone or go with another provision, it's a deal killer right now because the Congress knows they can't get reelected if they sink the economy by spiking the deficit still further. The deficit level now is hurting the recovery. There's little incentive to increase FMAP to states now. This money anticipated in our state budget won't be there. No wonder they agree so easily, they know this is round 1. This is a mock up that doesn't represent the real budget that has to happen.— CleanupPhilly
- Obama has chosen to stay in Afghanistan and Iraq, and he's not a GOPer, so where's that fit in this logic? If Obama could withdraw, why hasn't he? The spending on wars can't just end. But the wasteful spending to states has to be curtailed. We have a massive deficit that Bush did not create. We tried to spend through the recession, but it appears that spending has been too high and is prolonging or deepening the recession. That's not a partisan conclusion, that's economics. In the same way Greece has hurt the Euro, the U.S. deficit is hurting our own recovery. PA is anticipating a another stimulus package, but it can't come this time.— CleanupPhilly
- We have to start having an intelligent conversation about what we are spending on social programs in PA, and what is working, and what isn't. We have to both sides ask ourselves, "what can we live without?" We can live without PHA housing for life. We can live without PHA holding properties and doing nothing with them for years because these properties don't fit into their current plans. PHA can sell properties it can't use. We can audit programs, and expect that programs that can't show results can be cut. It's time to put welfare reform into action in PA. That will decrease joblessness and improve the economy as people transition into work, and we can't do that if we let people languish in "classes" where they learn little or get little measurable results, or have bogus "training" to stay on welfare. LIHEAP was bilked when no one was looking, including the press, which simply called for funding it still more and more, since it was "running out of money due to increased need." No retraction of that statement was ever published. LIHEAP was robbed by DPW employees. There are dregs still at DPW that need to go, and this is a good opportunity to make those changes that tighten and modernize this bloated, flabby agency. Taxpayers deserve well functioning government that proves that it gets the results it gets funded for. Like a forsythia, you have to prune government for it to bloom again.— CleanupPhilly
- Governor needs a deal so he can have his last jog around the state prior to retirement! To have this mess carry on until November would be a load of manure in his hat.— James
- Why don't the UNION WORKERS have to suffer in this ecomony? I had to take a pay cut for me to stay employed. I think everone need to take a step back and look at why we are going broke??? We can not afford Union wages, pensions and benefits. I can only hope when Corbit becomes our republican Governor he does what Chrisie did in New Jersey and does not let the Unions control our state.— pipedream40
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