The exterior of the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg.
Amanda Berg / For Spotlight PA
Divided Harrisburg: House Dems reject Senate GOP transit, budget bills
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Jaxon White/WITF
Amanda Berg / For Spotlight PA
The exterior of the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg.
As Pennsylvania’s budget impasse continues, elected officials involved in negotiations have repeatedly said talks are “ongoing” or “progressing.”
Their actions say otherwise.
Senate Republicans on Tuesday night passed a temporary spending plan to largely maintain current state funding levels for schools, nursing homes and local governments as lawmakers negotiate a final deal. They also approved a two-year transit funding bill.
The GOP did this after top Democrats including Gov. Josh Shapiro and House Majority Leader Matt Bradford, D-Montgomery, repeatedly said they would not support a stopgap budget or the funding mechanism Republicans used for the transit bill.
On Wednesday afternoon, rather than letting the proposals stagnate, House Democrats on the Appropriations Committee met in Harrisburg to directly reject them.
Appropriations Chair Jordan Harris, D-Philadelphia, said the spending bill was “not a serious budget plan.”
“The only time you use numbers from last year is early on in the process — early on in the process — in order to move the process forward until you get an agreed-upon number,” Harris said.
Harris and Bradford said Wednesday budget negotiators will continue to meet in an attempt to reach a final product.
Senate Appropriations Chair Scott Martin, R-Lancaster, told reporters after the Senate vote Tuesday that the disparity in spending totals demonstrated how far the divide is between the chambers’ majority parties.
In mid-July, House Democrats approved a $50.6 billion general appropriations bill party leadership referred to as “a compromise” with the other side of the Capitol. It was a reduced tab from Shapiro’s $51.5 billion plan, and has not been considered in the Senate.
Budget impact
The budget was due July 1 — the start of the state’s fiscal year.
Since then, local governments, school districts and other state funding beneficiaries have repeatedly called on lawmakers to find an agreement. Their programming relies on state funding to stay afloat, they argue, and further delay could threaten their work.
“Each day of delay increases fiscal strain, jeopardizes the continuity of critical service,” the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania wrote in June.
Aaron Chapin, president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, said Wednesday students will “pay the price” for lawmakers failing to pass a budget.
“Schools across Pennsylvania count on billions in funding from the state,” Chapin said. “They cannot afford to stand by waiting as kids head back to school.”
Transit funding
How to best fund mass transit agencies across the state remains one of the most prominent disagreements among lawmakers.
Casting the issue into the spotlight is added pressure from a 20% service cut SEPTA has said will be implemented if it does not receive the $167 million proposed by House Democrats before Friday.
The Senate’s funding bill would have given those funds — including an additional $125 million to other transit agencies statewide — but the source of those dollars would have come from the state’s Public Transportation Trust Fund.
SEPTA General Manager Scott Sauer testified to the House Rules Committee on Wednesday that the money the agency receives from the trust fund annually is already promised to capital projects, including rail and equipment improvements.
What now?
It is unclear where budget negotiations stand.
House Democrats told reporters they remain optimistic that lawmakers can cut a deal sometime in the next few days.
A spokesperson for Senate Republicans did not respond to a request for comment on the House Democrats’ actions Wednesday.
Neither the House nor the Senate is slated to return for session days before September, though votes can always be added to the calendar. House Democrats have scheduled Rules and Appropriations committee meetings through Aug. 19, including Saturday and Sunday.
A collection of interviews, photos, and music videos, featuring local musicians who have stopped by the WITF performance studio to share a little discussion and sound. Produced by WITF’s Joe Ulrich.
