Rongone wrote:

As you may know the state is constitutionally required to construct an annual budget by June 30th of each year. This year's budget has been tied up in political wrangling by our elected officials in Harrisburg. Last week I contacted my state senator, Scott Wagner, and state representative, Stan Saylor, to ask them both what positive steps they are taking to cooperate, collaborate, and compromise in order to pass a budget that will be beneficial to the people of Pennsylvania.

Here is Scott Wagner's response. I'll let you judge as to whether his response advocates positive actions to reach a compromise, or merely political rhetoric and grandstanding that adds to the gridlock.


"Thank you for contacting me regarding the ongoing lack of a state budget."

I wrote an editorial piece for the York Daily Record recently, and the closing line summarizes what I am doing: “Until we finally come to an agreement, no matter how long it takes, you can be sure that I'll be in Harrisburg fighting for the reforms that voters sent me to Harrisburg to get done.”

Please remember that the legislature passed a responsible budget by the constitutional deadline of June 30th.  It was Governor Wolf who chose to veto the entire thing when he had the power to line-item veto the parts he didn’t like.  Two-thirds of the budget passed by the legislature was agreed to with the Governor.  He could have chosen to approve the two-thirds he supported, and we would not have the current crisis being faced by local service providers.

Additionally, several weeks ago Republican leadership offered the Governor a compromise proposal, to which he never responded.  And the House attempted to over-ride the Governor’s veto with individual line item votes – an attempt to authorize funding for our service providers.  However, not a single Democrat supported this effort, and each of the votes failed.

Now a stop-gap budget is in the works to help those organizations that rely on state funding to operate, while the Governor continues to insist on his tax and spend budget.   However, voters did not send me to Harrisburg to increase their taxes and authorize the spending of $4.7 billion more of their money.  They sent me to Harrisburg to eliminate their property taxes, to rein in spending, and overall, to reform the way our state government operates.

I will not support any new taxes until we address the spending side of the equation.  Finding ways to reduce costs – for the state and for the taxpayers – is where my focus lies as Governor Wolf and the leaders from both the Senate and the House attempt to continue negotiations.

Thank you again for taking the time to write and to share your thoughts."

Sincerely,

Scott R. Wagner
Senator, 28th District, York County

 
I think Wagner is correct on this.  The legislature has offered compromise, and Wolf hasn't responded in over three weeks.  They offered to fund education by an additional $400 million like Wolf wants to do, if Wolf will agree to pension reforms, no response.  They offered to agree to Wolf's proposal to a severance tax on gas drillers, if Wolf will agree to privatize the liquor sales industry in Pennsylvania, no response.  It seems to me that Wolf believes that the legislature should do all of the compromising, while he doesn't compromise on anything.  He still believes that he'll get everything that he wants, and he won't.

Last edited by The Man (9/14/2015 4:36 pm)

Here are my thoughts on the Budget Impasse:

Both sides are responsible for this mess.  The R's passed a budget on June 30th they knew the Governor would veto.  It stood at a zero percent chance of passing.  The override of the veto was also pure political theater and was just for show.  Finally, it appears they weren't serious about compromising until 3 weeks ago.

The governor has been just as much to blame for this, if not more.  Working in Harrisburg, it is clear he is operating the state in the same fashion Rendell did.  He has hired many (both high and low level patronage positions) Rendell people.  Wolf seems to not be concerned that this budget isn't passed and is hoping the pain will start to come from this so he can get as much, if not everything he wants.  The R's gave a pretty decent compromise proposal to him 3 weeks ago, and he hasn't responded.  At some point he has to realize he does not have a mandate (just like Wagner doesn't have one) and will have compromise with the R's.

I always thought from the beginning that we would get a Marcellus Shale Tax and an increase in education funding in return for a change to pension for future state workers.  The R's offer is pretty close to that and I am surprised he hasn't jumped on it, considering those are the two things most voters agree with him on.  The fact that he is still holding out for higher taxes, more spending and no changes to pensions or liquor stores tells me all I need to know about him.

I know when the election came Lager and I had a discussion about Wolf and how I was having 2nd thoughts on voting for him because I started to have a feeling this is who he would be, and unfortunately I was correct.

How about your pay, CT.  Any posibility that money  runs out and stops soon?

So at some point can the state pull a "feds" and shut down the entire state government?  No work--no pay!
 

We've now hit the 3 1/2 month mark of this and it is now ridiculous.  I like this article from today's Pennlive website:

http://blog.pennlive.com/capitol-notebook/2015/10/ten_months_in_wolf_cant_govern.html#incart_river

As I noted back in September, both sides shared plenty of blame.  However, since then I think the vast majority of this lies with the Governor.  He appears completely unwilling to compromise on anything (as noted in the article) and is willing to drag this on forever until he gets exactly what he wants.  His refusal to cooperate and compromise reminds me of the "Freedom Caucus" Republicans in Congress who pushed out Boehner.