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PA-BGT: Wolf: GOP Budget ‘Plain Unfinished’ (VIDEO)

One week after line-item vetoing their latest budget proposal, Gov. Tom Wolf is telling GOP legislators to get back to work.

On Dec. 29, Wolf slashed around $7 billion from a “garbage” $30.3 billion spending plan pushed through by House and Senate Republicans, and is now telling Republicans they are not done negotiating.

“The legislature, which has been on vacation since before Christmas, needs to come back to Harrisburg and finish their work,” Wolf said in a short video update. “The budget they sent me not only underfunded education and adds to the deficit, it is also plain unfinished. Literally, it is not complete.”

Wolf criticized his GOP legislative colleagues for putting a “fiscally irresponsible” budget that doesn’t balance on his desk and insisted he will not give up on “historic” funding increases for the state’s education system.

“Pennsylvania already has a $2.3 billion structural deficit due to Republicans’ smoke-and-mirrors accounting of past years, and the half-baked budget they sent me increases it even more,” Wolf said. “It will lead to more credit downgrades and fiscal instability in Pennsylvania. It is not responsible.”

Though Wolf’s veto released $3.3 billion in emergency funding for schools, counties and human service providers, there is still plenty of work to be done before officials start to work on next year’s budget.

The budget for the 2015-16 fiscal year is now 190 days late and still not complete, making it highly unlikely the 2016-17 budget will be passed before the next fiscal year begins on July 1st.

6 Responses

  1. Boy I love when the republicans slip up. They play the game so much better but when they trip they fall.
    Watch your step republican. By the way turzai let Reed lead. Things might get done.) a little advice from from the other side:)

  2. It is nice to see that Wolf is serious about getting this done while the G.O.P. legislators remain AWOL–despite a constitutional requirement to resume meeting. It is great to see them pulling down their salary, benefits, and per diems while not even pretending to get this done. People across the state who are tired of dysfunction and shenanigans should challenge every single one of them this year to hold them accountable for this nonsense. Stop complaining and start running! The only thing these folks care about is holding onto their pay and benefits.

  3. Gov. Wolf is not the problem. He is doing the best he can with GOP knuckleheads in legislature. He cut a deal with GOP leadership where he made bad concessions in a compromise, but the teabaggers were not satisfied with even that. Taxes can be much fairer; just give us a gas severance tax to replace the other tax increases. But the GOP won’t do that because their gas company masters do not want PA to have a tax like other States do.

  4. This just doesn’t make any sense, why would OUR “elected officials” want/do this? This is sloppy work that they have to fix, they are the only ones who can fix it but the problem is that they won’t fix it. This makes life harder on all of us. But they simply don’t care because they have money and they’ll make sure that this unconstitutional budget won’t affect them in anyway shape or form. Remember we put you in office and we’ll gladly take you out.

  5. Governor Wolf needs to resign ASAP. He’s a wholly-owned subsidiary of the public employee unions, most notably the teachers’ union. No one in PA, except his aforementioned masters, want what he is selling–inflation-busting tax increases.

    Give it up, Guv. Do Pennsylvanians a favor and resign NOW!

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