Why did we have to wait 6 months for the line item veto? This could have been done after the first budget vote was sent to Wolf?

Who wins with Wolf's line-item veto? Nobody

http://www.ydr.com/story/opinion/editorials/2015/12/30/who-wins-wolfs-line-item-veto-nobody/78069314/

We’re still in limbo. Limbo is defined as just this side of hell. So, politically speaking, that sounds about right.

So, who won the latest round of Great State Budget Battle?Did Republican lawmakers win because Gov. Tom Wolf “blinked” and issued a line-item veto rather than a full veto?Did the governor win because he kept his prospects for a more comprehensive compromise budget alive?Did citizens win because the line-item veto gets some much-needed money flowing to public schools, counties and other important services?Yes and no to all three questions.But the truth is that we’re still in limbo.Limbo is defined as just this side of hell.

So, politically speaking, that sounds about right. Limbo is also a game in which participants see who can pass under the lowest bar. And that sounds about right, too, because our “leaders” in Harrisburg have shown they can go pretty low.Gov. Wolf used some salty language such as “stupidity” and “garbage” in describing the budget he thoroughly blue lined. GOP leaders shot back with childish jeering of their own.OMG! Really!?

Is this what it’s come to?Here’s the deal:The governor was right to release some money.Shutting down schools and services does no one any good.The governor is also right that the House GOP budget that the Senate – surprisingly – passed is inadequate and must be reworked.Lawmakers are right that Mr. Wolf is going to have to scale back his spending expectations.Let’s put aside for now the debate between the governor and GOP lawmakers such as Rep. Seth Grove, R-Dover Township, over whether the House budget is a $95 million cut to public education (as Mr. Wolf says) or a $400 million increase (as the GOP says).

It’s a semantic argument over how you count reimbursements for school construction costs.Perhaps the biggest problem is that the House budget likely leaves us with a $2 billion deficit by the end of the next fiscal year. That’s not acceptable. Some new revenue is going to be needed.Nobody wants to hear that. Nobody likes tax hikes. But some increases will be necessary if we’re going to pay our bills, police our communities, educate our kids and maintain our infrastructure properly.

Some targeted spending cuts will also be needed. And Mr. Wolf’s veto pen zeroed in on an important one: legislative spending.We have one of the nation’s largest and most expensive legislatures. Our lawmakers are over-paid, over-perked and under-worked.The General Assembly needs to significantly tighten its belt – and the governor’s veto would help put it on a diet. He cut $30 million from the Senate and $20 million from the House.

That’s a start.And we don’t want to hear a peep from conservative lawmakers who say all bodies of government need to be trimmed – except for their own.In the end, it’s just astounding that the two “sides” have been negotiating for more than six months and still can’t find common ground that properly funds schools, reforms property taxes and pensions, makes natural gas drillers pay their fair share, gets us out of the liquor business in a way that increases convenience for customers and … well, we could go on for pages.Yes, that’s a tall order, but it shouldn’t be THAT hard – for mature elected leaders. Unfortunately, our leaders can’t seem to put partisanship aside and work for the common good.There are no winners in this political limbo.