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About Alex

Alex has covered Pennsylvania government since the summer of 2007, when he worked as an intern for the Pennsylvania Legislative Correspondents' Association. He moved from there to a reporter position at The Carlisle Sentinel, where he covered state and county government in addition to local politics. In May of 2008, he became the Harrisburg correspondent for PolitickerPA.com, a startup Web site from the New York Observer Media Group dedicated to covering the Pennsylvania political scene. He has been with PLS since March 2009.

Capitol View

DPW the Focus of Tuesday's Negotiations; Talks to Resume Monday

June 30th, 2009
by Alex Roarty

HARRISBURG – Budget negotiations will resume Monday after lawmakers and the governor finished a two-day, line-by-line review of the state’s expenditures Tuesday night, a process each side called productive but far from enough to bridge significant gaps between Republicans’ and Democrats’ spending plans.

Tuesday’s talks, held at the Governor’s Residence, focused mostly on the Department of Public Welfare, lawmakers said, and concluded about 10 p.m. They were a continuation of negotiations on Monday night.

“There’s a lot more work to do,” House Appropriations Chairman Dwight Evans (D-Philadelphia) told reporters after the meeting.

June 30 is the budget deadline, although state employees won’t begin working without pay until July 17.

Asked if he agreed with Governor Ed Rendell’s assertion earlier Tuesday that lawmakers could reach a resolution in two weeks, Rep. Evans said, “We’ll find out.”

The sticking points remain unchanged after the recent round of meetings, he said. Republicans and Democrats still strongly disagree about how much to spend on education, welfare, and economic investment, among other areas.

The meeting Tuesday was mostly about welfare spending, which House Majority Leader Todd Eachus (D-Luzerne) told reporters had a “higher level of intensity.”

His House counterpart, Minority Leader Sam Smith (R-Jefferson), said the two sides continue to disagree. He cited one example of a certain program in DPW receiving money to pay for 100 jobs, even if 20 of them are currently unfilled.

Republicans argue those jobs should be eliminated from the budget, but Democrats argue they shouldn’t, he said.

Republicans and Democrats remains separated by roughly $1.5 billion in their respective spending plans. Gov. Ed Rendell and House Democratic leadership want to spend about $28.8 billion, and Senate Republicans favor a $27.3 billion budget.

Rep. Smith said “it’s impossible to say” whether this year is the farthest apart each side has been on budget deadline day.