A showdown is looming in Harrisburg.
With the clock ticking down to June 30 to complete a state
budget, both sides of the aisle at the capitol are digging in their
heels, with Republicans touting fiscal conservancy and Democrats
backing their plan which calls for an overall increase in
spending.
“I urge the governor to bring sanity back to spending,” Senate
President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Brockway, said Tuesday. “The
problem is that we have people who have been here (Harrisburg) for
many, many years and are addicted to spending.”
Scarnati said two weeks ago, in a party line vote, the House
Democrats sent the Senate a budget with total spending pegged at
more than 4 1/2 percent – representing a non-starter for many in
the Legislature.
“We are facing a group of House Democrats basically led by the
Philadelphia appropriations chairman that has drawn a line in the
sand,” Scarnati said. “But, we (GOP) can’t compromise on our core
beliefs. We can have a budget with no new taxes and within the rate
of inflation.”
Scarnati said the Senate will meet next week on the budget,
noting residents across the state are tired of gimmicks. He added
the Democrats would also like to take money from the state’s Rainy
Day Fund.
Many legislators are viewing the defeat of the tax-shifting
referendum during the May 16 primary election as a directive
against tax increases or shifting. Those same people also feel it
signals a strong belief by residents that the state’s budget has
become too bloated and needs reined in.
With that said, the Rendell administration continues to hold
fast to its proposals – including raising the sales tax and placing
tariffs on consumers, employers, oil companies and tobacco
users.
“The governor continues to contend that he has a mandate because
of his (election) victory a year ago,” Scarnati said. “But, quite
frankly, he didn’t campaign on tax increases and raising electric
bills.”
One of the governor’s proposals is to implement an oil profits
tax, the proceeds of which would be used to help pay for
transportation, particularly mass transit in the state’s larger
cities. However, the tax could have a devastating impact across the
local region, including on the American Refining Group and oil
producers at a time the industry is experiencing a rebound.
“The only person that doesn’t know the oil profits tax is dead
in the water is the governor,” Scarnati said. “It’s
unconstitutional, unfair and a backdoor gas tax when prices are
already over $3 a gallon. People just can’t take another increase
like this.”
All is not lost, though.
Scarnati said both sides can reach a compromise regarding roads
and bridges, making the health care system more efficient and
effective, and on energy and making prices stable, among other
items.
“We are going to send the House Democrats a budget and will wait
for them to send us a tax bill,” Scarnati said, “and we’ll vote it
down soundly. Let them put up the tax votes because they are not
there. It’s a hoax being played on the voters of Pennsylvania.”
One interesting element that could determine how the battle
plays out boils down to the leadership in the House, which is led
by Republican House Speaker Dennis O’Brien. Then there are the
margins in which the governor’s budget passed the House, a slim
102-97 tally. Reports also indicate a Republican effort to revise
last year’s budget, including a two percent spending increase, also
narrowly failed by a 102-96 margin.
Scarnati’s fellow Republican lawmakers in the House, Reps.
Martin Causer, R-Turtlepoint, and Kathy Rapp, R-Warren, have both
expressed concern with the budget. Meanwhile, Democrat Rep. Dan
Surra, D-Kersey, said earlier that, while he supports many of the
governor’s initiatives, the goal is to craft a budget that balances
the needs of the state’s residents with fiscal responsibility and
financial reality.
