Pennsylvanias Rendell Seeks to Salvage $28 Billion Budget Bargain
Rendell privately met with three Democrats from the House and three from the Senate at the Capitol in Harrisburg late yesterday, two days after the Democratic-controlled House shattered a month-old budget compromise by passing a revised plan that included taxes on cigars and natural gas that the Republican-controlled Senate rejected.
Rendells half-hour session followed earlier meetings with Republican Senate leaders aimed at resolving a dispute that has left the sixth-largest U.S. state without a budget since July 1. As he stepped into his limousine after the evening meeting, Rendell said a joint conference between Senate and House budget negotiators set for today would likely be postponed, although he said his talks yielded “significant progress.”
“I think theres going to be a compromise,” Rendell said when asked if the he thought the deal he announced Sept. 18 might be salvaged.
Todays planned joint committee meeting will continue as scheduled, said Johnna Pro, spokeswoman for Appropriations Committee Chairman Dwight Evans, a Philadelphia Democrat, who is also chairman of the joint committee. Rendell was “mistaken” in saying the meeting would be postponed, she said.
Evans hoped to use todays joint session to finish work on about two-dozen differences in the $28 billion budget plan.
“I feel like we need to get this thing done,” Evans said during an interview at his Harrisburg office yesterday, before Rendells visit.
Budget Size
The Senate and House have agreed on the final size of the budget, but they remain divided on how to raise revenue.
House members debated into the night yesterday more than 170 amendments to a bill that would yield $242 million by allowing table games in slot-machine parlors, a key element of the budget proposal.
Republicans who hold a majority in the Senate oppose the Houses plan to raise about $61 million from cigars and natural- gas drilling and a proposal to double a projected $10 million fee on table games. The earlier compromise extended the sales tax to event and cultural show tickets, which Democrats eliminated.
Rendell, who issued a statement Oct. 4, saying the budget plan the House passed was a “step back,” conferred yesterday with Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, a Republican from Chester, who was scheduled to participate in todays session.
One-Time Revenue
Rendell said he will sign a balanced budget that doesnt rely on one-time revenue.
Moodys Investors Service, citing the lack of a completed budget and deteriorating revenue, changed its outlook on $9 billion in Pennsylvania debt on Aug. 24 to negative from stable. John Ceffalio, the firms analyst for the state, said on Sept. 21 that dependence on non-recurring revenue might affect creditworthiness.
Pennsylvania is paying employees, bondholders and select vendors under an $11 billion appropriation Rendell signed in August.
Michigan is the only other U.S. state lacking a final spending accord.