House approves stopgap budget; Wolf plans veto
HARRISBURG - The Republican-controlled legislature on Thursday agreed to send Gov. Wolf a temporary budget to offset the impact of their nearly three-month-long impasse on a spending plan.
HARRISBURG - The Republican-controlled legislature on Thursday agreed to send Gov. Wolf a temporary budget to offset the impact of their nearly three-month-long impasse on a spending plan.
Voting 117-83, the House gave final approval along partisan lines to the stopgap budget, which would let money begin flowing again to schools, counties, and providers of social services that get state aid. The Senate passed the measure last week.
It now heads to Wolf, where it is likely to die. The Democratic governor has pledged to veto it, calling it a "very cynical, hypocritical" attempt to solve the problems the sides are having in reaching a deal.
Shortly after the House vote, Wolf met with Republican and Democratic legislative leaders to continue negotiations. The sides emerged no closer to a deal. The only thing certain was that the governor has not budged on his intention to veto the plan.
"What the people of Pennsylvania want are no more stopgaps, no more continuing resolutions. They want a budget. Let's get working. Let's get it done," he said.
The $11 billion measure would give the state authority to spend money only through October, and would be retroactive to July 1. The plan calls for largely the same funding proposed over the summer in a GOP-authored budget, one Wolf already vetoed.
House Republicans argued during several hours of floor debate Thursday that a stopgap budget is necessary while the sides work toward a final deal. Without a spending plan in place, school districts and counties have been forced to draw on reserves or take out loans. The longer the impasse lasts, the likelier it is that nonprofit social service providers will have to borrow money or cut services.
"The budget before you is not a gimmick, a ploy, or a public relations stunt," said Rep. Thomas Murt (R., Montgomery). "It's a responsible thing to do at a time when real people are suffering."
Democrats countered that the measure would accomplish little but put off the inevitable: a deal on a final budget.
"This stopgap measure is not funding human services and schools and helping the people of Pennsylvania," said Rep. Mike Hanna (D., Clinton). "This measure is simply prolonging the impasse."
Rep. Greg Vitali (D., Delaware) took it further, contending the GOP-led initiative was political, designed to put pressure on the governor to sign something in which he does not believe. "It only serves to give Republicans grist for the next campaign season," he said.
The state has been operating without a budget since July 1.
The split between Wolf, a first-term Democrat, and Republicans is over how much to spend and whether to raise taxes. Wolf has advocated large increases in public education funding and a shift away from property taxes to pay for public schools. To do so, he is proposing to increase the state sales and income tax and impose a new tax on natural gas drillers.
The GOP has pushed instead for savings through changes to the state's public employee pension plans and new revenue by privatizing the state-run liquor system.
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