Day 76 Without A Budget: Republicans To Prepare Limited Stopgap Budget

The Senate and House Republicans told their respective Caucuses Friday they are preparing a limited stopgap budget proposal to provide school districts, human service agencies and nonprofits with some level of funding in General Fund, Education Code and Fiscal Code bills.

The gameplan is to have the Senate pass the stopgap package when it comes back to session September 16, 17 and 18 and then have the House finish action on the bills when they both return the week of September 21.

The details of what will be in the stopgap has yet to be worked out.

A spokesperson for Gov. Wolf said, “no decisions have been made regarding a stopgap budget. Gov. Wolf is committed to working expeditiously toward a final budget agreement that funds education through a commonsense severance tax, provides property tax relief to middle-class families and seniors and fixes our deficit without gimmicks.”

House Democrats Get Funding

State Treasurer Timothy Reese Thursday provided the House Democratic Caucus with just over $1.8 million so it can meet its payroll this week, otherwise Democratic staff would have gone without.

The decision to fund the Democrats isn’t sitting well with Senate and House Republicans who said Gov. Wolf is picking “winners and losers” in deciding who to pay.  Executive Branch state employees are also being paid by the State Treasurer.

Republican Caucus reportedly have enough funding to make it through September.  If they need funding, the Republicans are expected to tap into lines-of-credit to keep their staff paid and operations going, rather than going to the State Treasurer.

The Treasurer’s Office said funding could also be extended to the other Caucuses under his determination Thursday.

Of course school districts, human service providers, thousands of state vendors and many  others have gone without for the last 76 days because the Senate, House and Governor can’t come to an agreement on a new state budget.

And, there was no progress reported in budget discussions this week, although Gov. Wolf was practicing shuttle diplomacy visit some Republican leaders in their districts.

NewsClips:

Marcellus Shale Impact Fee Revenue Dropping

Senate Republicans To Propose Stopgap Budget

PA Lawmakers Considering Stopgap Budget

GOP Lawmakers’ Next Step Is Stopgap Budget Bill

Pennsylvania Budget Stalemate Drags On

Lots Of Talks No Budget Breakthrough Moments Yet

House Democrats Get $1.9M From State Treasury

House Democrats Get Treasury Funds For Paychecks

Op-Ed: Federal Land & Water Conservation Fund Makes Big Difference


9/14/2015

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