The state budget is six weeks late, and both parties seem to have dug their heels in even deeper during the past week: Democrats have said they have no interest in passing a six-month, short-term budget, while Republicans have signaled that their return to Harrisburg this week may be to propose just that.
" We cannot tolerate this going on any longer," said Democratic House leader Matt Bradford during a rare Sunday session called to advance a public transit spending proposal.
He said the Senate, which is controlled by Republicans, "has an obligation to forthwith show what they can do to pass an annual 12-month budget for this Commonwealth and get funds — if they are so inclined — to our transit systems, yes, in southeastern Pennsylvania, but in every one of our 67 counties."
The House bill is expected to pass mostly along party lines on Monday.
Transit is a pressing topic for Philadelphians: A continued lack of funding would mean that Philly's SEPTA transit system must commit to cuts for bus and train routes on Aug. 24. That is just one day before public school students, who rely on public transit, return from summer vacation, advocates say. Gov. Josh Shapiro was in Philadelphia highlighting the issue Sunday.
Republicans are pushing back on such alarms, and have raised the possibility of passing a stopgap six-month budget while working out broader concerns.
In the meantime, Senate Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland) has suggested SEPTA and Pittsburgh Regional Transit could rely on the state's public transit reserves, totaling $2.3 billion.
But Bradford said Sunday that transit leaders have told the legislature that most of those funds are dedicated for system upgrades, and relying on them in a 6-month budget "is not a sustainable solution." Democrats prefer Shapiro's proposal to increase the amount of state sales tax that goes into the trust fund, boosting funding for agencies statewide by some $300 million.
A six-month deal could still be on the table when the Senate returns for its first session day since the budget impasse began on July 1.
"It is important that we ensure the needs of Pennsylvanians are addressed by helping schools, hospitals, nursing homes and other services," said Ward in a post on social media announcing a Senate return on Tuesday.
Gov. Shapiro last week told reporters he had sympathy for county agencies and schools that worry about an ongoing budget delay. But he reiterated Democrats want to pass a 12-month budget with all line items included, not just a stop-gap agreement.
And while the sole agenda item for the state House session on Sunday was public transit, the entire budget negotiation process was brought up on the floor, with emotional remarks from leaders in both parties.
Republican leader Jesse Topper argued that attempts to pass bills in the Democratic-controlled House without agreement with the GOP-controlled Senate are a waste of time, and vice-versa. The only place the budget will make progress, he said, is in the closed-door negotiations between party leaders and the governor.
"It is very difficult work when you have two sides that are diametrically opposed in terms of their vision for the Commonwealth, [but] that is where the difficult work is done," Topper told colleagues in a floor speech.
"Passing bills just to show we can pass them out of the chamber set us back in that initiative," he added. "You cannot budget in a silo."
The House will gavel in at 9 a.m. Monday, with the Senate coming back for a Tuesday 4 p.m. session.
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