Oct 28, 2015 3 min read

HARRISBURG – Democrats in the Pennsylvania Senate blocked a GOP bid to override Gov. Tom Wolf’s veto of a short-term spending plan Wednesday, as attention began turning to a compromise being worked on by top Republicans in a bid to break a four-month stalemate.

The Senate’s vote came on the 120th day of a partisan budget battle between the first-term Democratic governor and the Legislature’s huge Republican majorities.

A successful override of Wolf’s Sept. 29 veto of a short-term, $11 billion Republican-written spending package would have required at least three Democrats to join all 30 Republicans in voting “yes.” Instead, in a show of solidarity with Wolf, all 19 Democrats opposed the override.

Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre, beseeched Democrats to support a four-month infusion of money for schools and social services providers while policymakers work out their differences. In his floor comments, he singled out superintendents from Democrats’ districts who were in Harrisburg Wednesday.

“You think they care whether this is temporary money? It’s one-third? I don’t think they care,” Corman told colleagues. “I think they care that their doors are going to stay open, that they can pay their employees, that parents in their districts won’t have to face the decision, ‘What am I going to do with my kids while I’m working a full day because their school is closed?’ Has anybody given me a reason why this is harmful for the commonwealth?”

Wolf, meanwhile, insisted the budget be done right. He has sought a multibillion-dollar tax increase to try to fix one of the nation’s worst public school funding disparities and a long-term deficit that has led to five credit downgrades in three years.

“If we don’t work now for a budget that works, we’re going to be in really bigger problems in a very short time,” Wolf told reporters after an event at the Pennsylvania Medical Society offices outside Harrisburg.

For now, House and Senate GOP leaders are working privately to deliver a compromise, and it is proving difficult. A smaller counteroffer to the $2.4 billion tax package Wolf sought earlier month is under construction, but Republicans also recognize they need to offer something Wolf will sign, Corman said.

“So we’re trying to achieve that, whether we can or not, remains to be seen,” he said.

As part of budget negotiations, top Republicans insisted Wolf agree to privatize the state-controlled wine and liquor system and to end the traditional pension benefit for future school and state employees. House and Senate GOP leaders have not always seen eye to eye on those subjects, and Wolf’s attempts at counteroffers have fallen flat with Republicans.

Meanwhile, Wolf sought sweeping legislation to cut property taxes, a concept that split House and Senate Republicans.

Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said Wednesday borrowing by school districts totals at least $431 million – $275 million of it by the Philadelphia School District, the state’s largest and one of the biggest victims in Pennsylvania’s politically driven school funding system. That tally could exceed $1 billion in December should Philadelphia take out an additional $250 million loan that it is considering, DePasquale said.

The school district protected its programs for students, but it delayed about $70 million in vendor payments, primarily to Independence Blue Cross, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and its utilities, Chief Operating Officer Frances Burns said.