The Pennsylvania Capitol at night. (Photo: Peter Hall/Capital-Star)
The state senate passed fresh budget proposal of $47.9 billion on Tuesday, as Democrats warned of the consequences of underfunding schools and social safety net programs.
The vote on the party line took place on the 113th day after the June 30 deadline for adopting the spending plan. It also came nearly two weeks after the House passed a $50.25 billion proposal with bipartisan support.
Senate Republican leaders said the fresh proposal meets their requirements of not imposing tax increases while fully funding the Commonwealth’s pension program and debt service. They argued that the proposal sets an example by including a 5% spending cut for the Legislature.
“One day and one vote. That’s all we need from House Democrats to end the Shapiro shutdown,” Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-Indiana) said during the Senate debate. “The budget before us is a needs-based budget. It is not a wants-based budget.”
Gov. Josh Shapiro’s $51.6 billion proposal in February also included no tax increases.
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However, this required the legalization of recreational marijuana for adult exploit and the regulation and taxation of slot machine-like skill games that had become common in Pennsylvania and many other states. Shapiro’s office said the proposals would generate about $800 million in fresh revenue.
Democrats sharply criticized the plan as “frivolous” and lacking compromise.
“This is a joke,” Shapiro told reporters after the Allegheny County event. “In fact, it does not fulfill the responsibilities of this community. This is just a marketing gimmick that is not meant to be earnest or intended to get the job done.”
Senate President pro tempore Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland) said Shapiro was responsible for the budget delay, noting that this year is the third term of his administration.
“He failed to bring the parties together, so instead he flies around the state on taxpayers’ money, showing his face in front of cameras and pointing fingers. This is, in the governor’s words, ‘no way to get things done,'” Ward said.
Elizabeth Rementer, spokeswoman for House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D-Montgomery), said Senate Republican leaders are unable to pass a budget that meets the state’s needs because they are unable to rally support for such a plan among members of their caucus.
“By their own admission, they need Democratic votes in the Senate to pass a real budget,” Rementer said in a statement. “They lack the courage to propose a real budget that would require bipartisan support from their chamber.”
Before the majority vote in the Senate, Minority Leader Jay Costa (D-Allegheny) argued for restoring the proposal passed by the House on October 8. This was the Chamber’s response to the budget bill that the Senate first adopted in August.
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Costa noted that the house plan is included a court-ordered $565 million raise in funding for the state’s most underfunded schools, $1.3 billion in funding for the Department of Human Services, and millions more for student teacher scholarships, college scholarships, and food banks.
“There are many other reasons why we shouldn’t support it,” Costa said. “We think this should be something that needs to be done in a bipartisan way – four leaders meeting with the administration, coming together and making sure that we can come up with the right budget to end this impasse.”
Minority Appropriations Committee Chairman Vincent Hughes (Philadelphia), noting that Pennsylvanians are suffering and the federal government is making the situation worse.
“We have a $3 billion operating surplus and $8 billion in a rainy day fund. We should be able to do it. It’s 113 days behind schedule. That doesn’t raise the bar,” Hughes said.
Hughes later added that additional money for underfunded schools would support more than two-thirds of the state’s districts, many of which are in heavily Republican rural areas.
“You know, they say politics should be parochial. You’ve got to worry about your community,” Hughes said. “But you know, I’ve found that we often worry about people we don’t even represent because it seems like the people who represent them don’t want to take care of them.”
