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Day of rest in Capitol before tough budget talks resume
HARRISBURG - Sunday brought quiet to the Capitol, hours after top Senate Republicans and Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell traded barbs and state government embarked on a new fiscal year with only limited powers to spend money.
When it became clear on Saturday night that days of private negotiations had failed to yield a budget agreement, the criticism poured forth.
Rendell was being "reckless," said Sen. Dominic Pileggi, the chamber's Republican leader from Delaware County. Rendell countered that the Senate GOP was "irresponsible."
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Today, however, is likely to begin another long week of tough negotiations and late nights.
"We'll get back up there (today) and get everybody refocused," said Johnna Pro, a spokeswoman for Philadelphia Rep. Dwight Evans, a key Democratic budget negotiator.
The Democratic-controlled House was set to return to session today. The Republican-led Senate will be dark, with leaders ready to negotiate and call the rank and file back to Harrisburg if and when agreements are reached.
Critical functions of state government will continue, but Rendell administration officials said that by Thursday they will move ahead with plans to shut down other services and furlough as many as 40,000 "nonessential" state workers, effective the following week. Such a scenario could be avoided if agreements are struck by then, although few expect that to be easy.
"There's a big 'if' out in front of all that," said Stephen C. MacNett, the Senate GOP's top lawyer.
Besides working out differences over a $27 billion-plus budget bill, legislators are trying to bridge disagreements over many complicated measures that Rendell has insisted must pass with the budget. Those include cutting health-care costs, promoting alternative energy and raising massive new funding for highways and mass transit.
There were plenty of reasons suggested for why Sunday arrived without a new budget in place. Lack of leadership. Too much foot-dragging. No spirit of compromise.
Rendell, the former Philadelphia mayor, contended that he has been flexible on his demands. At the same time, he virtually dared Republicans to test his will to furlough workers.
"I don't want to do this, but if there people out there in the Republican caucuses who think that I won't, I want to remind them they are looking at the mayor who took a 40-day transit strike in Philadelphia," Rendell told reporters Saturday night. "So if they don't think I will do it, they're wrong."
The bills he wants, he said, are far-reaching and worthwhile.
"They're not small things and they're not petty things and they're not political things," Rendell said. "These are things that affect people's lives. Do (Republicans) want to deny me a victory?"
Pileggi, speaking on the Senate floor before the chamber adjourned for the night Saturday, said Rendell does not understand that his proposals need more work, and that the Senate has labored diligently on them.
"It is unfortunate that the governor seems to think our desire to study and improve his specific proposals is somehow a personal rejection of his priorities," Pileggi said. "It is, of course, nothing of the sort. There are legitimate policy differences that need to be worked out."
