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Stopgap Pa. budget likely, leaders say

Gov. Rendell and state legislative leaders made little progress in another round of private talks yesterday, but they said a stopgap budget would likely be enacted early this week to pay for state workers and essential services.

Gov. Rendell and state legislative leaders made little progress in another round of private talks yesterday, but they said a stopgap budget would likely be enacted early this week to pay for state workers and essential services.

For the second time this weekend, Rendell met with top House Democrats and Senate Republicans at the governor's mansion. Among them was Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware), who described the meeting as a "standstill leaning in a negative direction" and said the two sides were no closer to a resolution.

The state is a month into the new fiscal year with no budget.

Rendell has said he would sign the stopgap budget early this week, but that billions of dollars would be withheld from schools, hospitals, and social-service organizations.

The temporary budget is a version of the $27.1 billion Senate Republican proposal, Senate Bill 850. Rendell has opposed that plan, believing it contains unacceptable cuts. However, he said he would use it as a vehicle to get paychecks to state employees and fund core services.

House Democratic leaders said they would call a final vote on S.B. 850 tomorrow then send it to Rendell.

House Republicans and some fiscally conservative House Democrats plan to bring up an amendment today that would call for a $27.5 billion budget with no broad-based tax increases, said Steve Miskin, spokesman for House Minority Leader Sam Smith (R., Jefferson).

House Speaker Keith McCall (D., Carbon) said a stopgap budget would not relieve the pressure on lawmakers to pass a full-year budget measure because the state's diminished spending capacity would affect "a whole myriad of social services," from state parks to food inspections, and could lead to layoffs of state employees.

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