PERHAPS YOU HAVEN'T BEEN FOLLOWING: It was Wolf who CHOSE to line item veto the PASSED budget. Correct?
PA budget standoff
- Thread starter seabrooksfan
- Start date
Voting for the non-preferred appropriations in separate bills is not "sneaking pieces" through the budget process. It is done EVERY fiscal year. It is required by the PA Constitution. Unfortunately, after the bills were passed by the Senate (all by votes of 48-2), the House took them up and the votes were: SB 912 (PSU): 116 aye - 75 nay 9exc; SB 913 (PennVet) 114 y - 77n 9exc; SB 914 (Temple) 115 y- 76 n 9 exc; SB 915 (Pitt): 114 y-77n 9exc; SB 916 (Lincoln) 114 y-77-n 9 exc. In every case no more than 2 D's voted aye and no more than 2 R's voted nay. 2 R's and 7 D's were on leave and excused. Non preferred appropriations must get a 2/3 vote in the affirmative (133). Rather than criticize Rep. Turzai, the criticism should be directed to Rep. Dermody, the "D" leader who did not urge his members to support the non preferred's.
When referring to the "budget compromise" , people ignore it involved more than the general fund budget. It included four major components . . . all of which had to pass or the deal was off. One of the components was public employee pension reform. When the pension reform bill was called up and not a single "D" vote was cast for the bill causing it to fail . . . the compromise deal was breached . . . I don't think Rep Turzai asked the D's to vote no on the pension bill but it isn't hard to guess who did.
This whole mess is primarily the product of one very badly advised decision: Governor Wolf's veto the entire general fund budget last June rather than using his very powerful tool of "blue lining" parts of the budget. He should have foreseen this problem when not a single vote (Republican or Democrat) was cast in favor of his initial tax plan.
In contrast, Governor Rendell used the line item veto approach very effectively in his first budget. Since most line items in his initial budget proposal were OK and his tax plan was not, he blue lined key items of most importance to him. As the state continued to function . . . negotiations went on. He got a tax increase (less than he wanted). But, enough that his most urgent wishes were met.
I wonder if the recent sudden "resignation" of the Gov's pugnacious & dogmatic chief of staff was a result of this stalemate?
Because they CAN. Who cares what the MSRP is, anyway?? If they want to charge twice that, the millionaires from Asia will still send kids there. Interesting place these days, looks like the U.N. Great for the city & region.
I've been following closely. Drop on down to Harrisburg and I'll give you a tour of the Capitol.
You continually obfuscate. A budget IS a compromise between ALL parties which the REPUBLICAN super-majority REFUSED to do with Wolf. You don't force a budget through and really expect the CEO to just sign it because you were able to get it to him. This is not what you do...you need to negotiate, deliberate, and COMPROMISE.
The budget which WAS A COMPRISE WAS NOT VOTED ON IN THE HOUSE BECAUSE MIKE TURZAI WOULDN'T SEND IT TO THE FLOOR FOR A VOTE. Mike Turzai is the reason the state-related Universities haven't received the funding from the state. This is a FACT that your rhetoric will NOT change.
Good summary. I've got to run so I'll reply to the other stuff later but I wanted to address that in bold quickly. Hangar told Penn State that they had better support the Governor or they wouldn't get their money. Two days later he was gone.
I'm sure you'd love to see Wolf redraw the lines. 12 million in PA (Or close), and the 2 big cities have about 1/6 of those, yet call the shots. Dems love to cut off power to GOP-dominant areas. Corbett reduced school welfare to PRE-STIMULUS levels, yet his last budget spent more on education than ANY, ever.
Clearly you have a real problem with Turzai which I think is very funny, because I hate to tell you he isn't going anywhere and has unanimous support from his constituents regardless of all the rhetoric and super pac mailings a couple of months back. In fact, his campaign donations are UP. And throwing in the little jab that all he wants is to be governor is a tired and uninformed statement when nothing else is working. Appears to this voter that Wolf and his staff think that suddenly the residents of PA will turn their backs on their elected officials and side with him if he keeps pointing the finger at Turzai and the House, but it appears that we aren't quite that dumb.
Wolf kind of reminds me of my kids when they were toddlers in that he has backed himself into a corner with his decisions and doesn't posses the ability to get out. Not sure why he thought he could come in and bull doze his way through a somewhat delicate process that Rendell and the Republicans, although not pretty, were able to accomplish. Even his own in Harrisburg voted down his initial budget for goodness sakes. Instead of backing down however and finding a way out of this (which is HIS job as the top Executive of the Commonwealth), he has crossed his arms and decided to engage in a war of words and mailings instead. Good for him. But guess what? It isn't working. And this apparently infuriates his supporters and staff (like you).
Here is what I know: Wolf pressured Pitt (and presumably other state-relaters) to take the unprecedented step of entering the partisan fray to publicly support his tax increase. Pitt rightly refused, as did all the other schools. This sort of attempted politicizing of the state-relateds is unheard of in the history of these institutions' association with the Commonwealth.
Pitt's long overdue funding came to a vote and was defeated due to overwhelming opposition by Wolf's party. Political motives are irrelevant. The universities could have been spared the continued draining of their reserves that are due entirely to the broken promises of the state. Instead, these essential incubators of jobs and innovation have been sunk into the political quagmire. The votes are a matter of factual public record and there is no way to spin the result (although there will be attempts).
It is absolutely clear that some have decided to play politics with Pitt (and the other schools), treating Pitt like a disposable chip despite it being a major engine (if not the major engine) of Western Pennsylvania's economy. In the meantime, every day Pitt (and Pennsylvania) continues to lose even more of an edge to competitor research institutions across the nation.
Pitt's long overdue funding came to a vote and was defeated due to overwhelming opposition by Wolf's party. Political motives are irrelevant. The universities could have been spared the continued draining of their reserves that are due entirely to the broken promises of the state. Instead, these essential incubators of jobs and innovation have been sunk into the political quagmire. The votes are a matter of factual public record and there is no way to spin the result (although there will be attempts).
It is absolutely clear that some have decided to play politics with Pitt (and the other schools), treating Pitt like a disposable chip despite it being a major engine (if not the major engine) of Western Pennsylvania's economy. In the meantime, every day Pitt (and Pennsylvania) continues to lose even more of an edge to competitor research institutions across the nation.
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Wolf won't sign anything that includes pension reform OR selling the liquor stores. And he'll go down with either or both of those issues. NO tax hikes w/o spending cuts & reforms.
So when I tell you it's the Democrats in the House's fault that the state related schools funding didn't pass I'm obfuscating, but when he tells you the exact same thing except he takes the time to list the actual votes he's made a "good summary"? I mean you do realize that he's on the opposite side of this argument from you, right? You do realize that he's saying essentially the same thing as me, right?
Resolution of the budget is clear.
A budget compromise was reached with the Pennsylvania Legislature and Wolf.
The Pennsylvania Senate voted to pass the budget compromise and sent it to the Pennsylvania House.
Turzai (as House Speaker) won't let the compromise bill be voted by the entire House (to be either approved or rejected).
The will of all of the citizens of Pennsylvania who voted for each respective house member is being negated by one individual. Not democracy at its finest.
Turzai let democracy win and allow the Pennsylvania House members to vote on the the bill.
Seems simple enough to me.
What is the problem.
HAIL TO PITT!!!!
A budget compromise was reached with the Pennsylvania Legislature and Wolf.
The Pennsylvania Senate voted to pass the budget compromise and sent it to the Pennsylvania House.
Turzai (as House Speaker) won't let the compromise bill be voted by the entire House (to be either approved or rejected).
The will of all of the citizens of Pennsylvania who voted for each respective house member is being negated by one individual. Not democracy at its finest.
Turzai let democracy win and allow the Pennsylvania House members to vote on the the bill.
Seems simple enough to me.
What is the problem.
HAIL TO PITT!!!!
Thanks for the response but I think I'll post where want. Go bully someone else jerk off.
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