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12/24/2015 7:40 am  #1


Senate sending Wolf budget bill

 This is not the bill Wolf tried to get through the house using mysterious voters who were not in the chamber to vote.

Senate sending Wolf budget bill

http://www.ydr.com/story/news/politics/2015/12/23/senate-sending-wolf-budget-bill/77845468/

The state Senate on Wednesday passed a state budget bill it had previously opposed and it will land on Gov. Tom Wolf's desk before Christmas pending a signature Thursday from the speaker of the House.

Republicans say it is the only way to give Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf a bill that can end a 6-month-old stalemate before Christmas and speed money to school districts and social service agencies."It's been quite a day," said state Rep. Kate Klunk, R-Hanover. "In 24 hours, a lot has happened."The bill's passage doesn't mean talks have ended on a wider bipartisan budget deal that is stalled, Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman said Wednesday.

 The bill passed on a near party-line vote, 33-17. Two Democrats crossed over and voted in the bill's favor.It now goes to the House for the signature of Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny County. The signature is "more of a formality" and doesn't require the House to be in session, Klunk said.The signature is "ministerial" and will be done tomorrow without a full session, said Stephen Miskin, the spokesman for House Majority Leader Dave Reed of Indiana County."There is a reason we have to wait until tomorrow, but I don't know what it is," he said.

The bill is one previously advanced by the Pennsylvania House but it isn't clear that Wolf will sign it. A statement released by his office shortly after the vote showed dissatisfaction with the move.
 


 “We hold these truths to be self-evident,”  former vice president Biden said during a campaign event in Texas on Monday. "All men and women created by — you know, you know, the thing.”

 
 

12/24/2015 8:02 am  #2


Re: Senate sending Wolf budget bill

Somehow, we made it all the way back to where this was at the end of June.  The Republicans in the House wanted to know what tax increases would result from the budget before it passed, therefore wouldn't pass the $30.8 billion spending plan to the Senate.  The Democrats in the House won't vote for pension reform, an item which is supposed to go along with the spending plan as part of the bargained budget, and therefore Republicans also refuse to send the budget to the Senate without guarantee of pension reform.

This thing is a mess.  In my opinion, I think the Governor just needs to sign the $30.3 million budget with no tax increase and no pension or liquor reform and they can start working on next years budget.

 

12/24/2015 1:17 pm  #3


Re: Senate sending Wolf budget bill

Wolf has 10 days to decide if he will sign it. If not let the games begin again.
This why every time the school property tax issue comes up it end in defeat.
People deceiving the voters. 

I am with you Brady I hope he signs it.


 “We hold these truths to be self-evident,”  former vice president Biden said during a campaign event in Texas on Monday. "All men and women created by — you know, you know, the thing.”

 
     Thread Starter
 

12/24/2015 3:52 pm  #4


Re: Senate sending Wolf budget bill

York Co. r.e. taxes are going up in 2016 partly because no budget was passed and school systems have to borrow funds.  Thanks a helluva lot, PA gov. & legislators!!!  You won't be forgotten come election time.

 

12/27/2015 9:45 am  #5


Re: Senate sending Wolf budget bill

Here's what I don't get:

There are essentially 5 players in this mess........... the Governor, the Senate Republicans, Senate Democrats, House Republicans, and House Democrats.  Ok, fine.

4 of the 5 players approve the plan, 1 does not.  The Gov, the Senate Dems, Senate Repubs, and the House Dems have decided to move things forward.  The only speedbump is the Repub wing in the House and they represent the roadblock that is gumming up the works.

WTF?

Last edited by Just Fred (12/27/2015 3:06 pm)

 

12/27/2015 10:37 am  #6


Re: Senate sending Wolf budget bill

Members of the PA state House of Representatives are up for re-election in 2016.

It's up to the voters. Let's hope the voters don't just automatically re-elect the incumbents like they do 90% of the time.

VOTE THE BUMS OUT.

 

12/27/2015 10:53 am  #7


Re: Senate sending Wolf budget bill

Just Fred wrote:

Here's what I don't get:

There are essentially 5 players in this mess........... the Governor, the Senate Republicans, Senate Democrats, House Republicans, and House Democrats.  Ok, fine.

4 of the 5 players approves the plan, 1 does not.  The Gov, the Senate Dems, Senate Repubs, and the House Dems have decided to move things forward.  The only speedbump is the Repub wing in the House and they represent the roadblock that is gumming up the works.

WTF?

That isn't the only speed bump.  As part of the proposed budget deal to increase spending to $30.8 billion, pension reform is part of the deal.  However, no Dem's in the House are supporting pension reform and only half of the Rep's are.  Without pension reform, the Senate isn't going to sign-off on increasing taxes and spending.

This isn't the fault of just one section of the government, all parties involved in this have royally messed this up, including the Governor, Senate and House
 

 

12/27/2015 3:22 pm  #8


Re: Senate sending Wolf budget bill

There are four possibilities:

1) Sign the budget
2) Veto the budget
3) Line-item veto some parts of the budget
4) Refuse to sign and allow it to become law without his signature effective January 3

There is a subplot at work here:  Governor Wolf despises the Educational Initiativ3e Tax Credit (EITC) because he (mis)perceives it as a backdoor way of sending public dollars to parochial schools., even though it assists private schools of all kinds as well as after-school and early childhood education programs.

Some of those are faith-based, others are not.l

IF the budget is not signed before December 31 the EITC earmarked money which has been sitting in escrow awaiting a budget will revert to the general fund.

Therefore, I predict that the Governor will choose option 2 or 4; and 4 the most likely because that avoids having him be the "bad guy" who  blocked the budget.


Life is an Orthros.
 

12/27/2015 5:38 pm  #9


Re: Senate sending Wolf budget bill

I still don't get it.  The Gov, the Senate R and D Tribe members, and the House D Tribe agreed on a plan.  Of the 5 players, only the House R Tribers are throwing up a roadblock.  What am I missing here?

 

12/27/2015 5:49 pm  #10


Re: Senate sending Wolf budget bill

Just Fred wrote:

I still don't get it.  The Gov, the Senate R and D Tribe members, and the House D Tribe agreed on a plan.  Of the 5 players, only the House R Tribers are throwing up a roadblock.  What am I missing here?

Even if the House can get enough Republicans to pass the agreed to spending plan, it wasn't going to make it to the Governor unless the House also passed the pension reform (which is part of the agreed to plan).  No Dems in the House voted for pension reform and only half the Republicans did, which means it failed.  Because of this, the Senate was not going to send the increased spending to the Governor without the pension reform.  At this point, the hold up is both parties in the House.

 

Last edited by Brady Bunch (12/27/2015 5:51 pm)

 

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