The floor of the PA House of Representatives felt more like a circus today, as GOP members attempted to force through budget line-item veto overrides, while Democrats argued such a move was impossible.
Each of the override attempts failed with all members voting party line – 115 (Republicans) to 83 (Democrats). A two-thirds majority is needed to override a veto.
Debate during the votes devolved into arguments over the constitutionality of the proceedings and “political stunts,” according to Chris Comisac of Capitolwire.
As for actual substance, Republicans argue they have given Gov. Tom Wolf concessions on education funding and their pension plan, but have seen no compromise in return. Wolf has yet to respond to a GOP offer to plow an additional $400 million into education spending which was tabled last week.
“I need to understand the offer. I’m still working on it,” Wolf said leaving another fruitless meeting with GOP leaders. “We got some information yesterday, I asked questions today and some of the answers were there and I need to get more answers.”
House Majority Leader Dave Reed criticized the Governor for delaying on a proposal “in which we’re agreeing with the Governor’s line items and putting them on the table.”
“At some point he’s going to actually have to accept ‘yes’ for an answer to his proposals – they are, after all, his proposals that we’re accepting and somehow he’s not accepting them now,” Reed said.
The budget stalemate, which began on July 1st, is approaching its third month.
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4 Responses
All the parts of the governor’s budget must work together to be a solid way out for PA to gain significant ground in economic development, education reform, pension stability and property tax relief. This isn’t a menu, it’s an economic plan….to pull PA out of the muck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It seems like Dave Reed is the ONLY one in Harrisburg who is leading… he is meeting the governor more than half way… saying no to every proposal is not what the governor should be doing. Remember, the governor’s budget didn’t get a single vote in the house – not a single vote.
“More like a circus today” than what? “Political stunts”. Isn’t this typical every day for PA govt? I mean, other than when they are sharing porn emails.
Dave Reed please step up and start leading.