GOP leaders plan vote on Wolf budget
HARRISBURG - Frustrated with the protracted budget stalemate, Republican legislative leaders said Wednesday that they would allow a vote next week on Gov. Wolf's proposal to raise the sales and personal income taxes - if only to show the administration that there is no support for it.
HARRISBURG - Frustrated with the protracted budget stalemate, Republican legislative leaders said Wednesday that they would allow a vote next week on Gov. Wolf's proposal to raise the sales and personal income taxes - if only to show the administration that there is no support for it.
The majority leaders in the House and Senate told reporters that they are fed up with hearing the Democratic governor say he believes he has support among rank-and-file members for his budget proposals, which have included raising taxes to finance property-tax relief and bring in more money for schools.
House Majority Leader Dave Reed (R., Indiana) said that come Wednesday, he will step aside and allow the package to be brought up for a vote.
"We've told the governor that the votes are just simply not there," said Reed. "There seems to be some disbelief ... about whether the votes are there or not, and we are at a fork in the road. And next Wednesday, we will choose a path."
Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman (R., Jefferson) put it this way: "If the votes are there - and we don't think they are - then we'll be done."
The maneuver was billed by the GOP as an attempt to solve the budget impasse, the theory being that if the administration has proof that its proposals have no support, it may drop some of its demands that Republicans claim are preventing a deal.
But the tactic raised yet again the question of what progress, if any, the sides have made since missing the July 1 deadline to pass a budget. House Republicans brought Wolf's tax plan to a vote four months ago, for largely the same reason, and it was rejected unanimously. Democrats said they voted against it only because the GOP asked them to vote on raising taxes without a corresponding bill laying out how the money would actually be spent.
Wolf spokesman Jeff Sheridan in a statement Wednesday said that Republican leaders are showing "they have no desire to negotiate in good faith with Gov. Wolf because they are fighting to embrace the failed Harrisburg status quo that has underfunded education and created a multibillion-dollar deficit."
Earlier in the day, Wolf told Pittsburgh radio station KQV-AM that he believes he can sway "good Republican legislators" to his side, and that he and his administration had already started reaching out to them.
There is ample impetus for a swift deal. The impasse has halted state aid to counties, schools, and nonprofit providers of social services. Many have had to dip into reserves, take out loans, or forgo payments to vendors to make ends meet.
The state already missed a hefty payment to school districts in August and is on track to miss another one Thursday.
The governor and the Republican-controlled legislature have been meeting regularly to negotiate, but the sides remain far apart on how much to spend and whether to hike taxes.
Reed said there was no support for raising broad-based taxes such as the personal income tax unless every dollar raised is dedicated to reducing property taxes.
In the budget Wolf unveiled earlier this year, he proposed raising the sales and income taxes and using much of that money for a massive property-tax reduction plan.
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