Aug 24, 2015 3 min read

HARRISBURG – Gov. Tom Wolf blasted Republican lawmakers Monday over a plan to force piece-by-piece override votes of his budget bill veto, saying GOP leaders cannot negotiate in good faith while staging what the Democrat called an unconstitutional and unproductive move.

Wolf’s comments in a letter to lawmakers came a day before Tuesday’s planned veto override votes and the resumption of talks on an eight-week-old budget stalemate that has shut off funding to schools and a range of safety-net services.

The House Republican plan could pose a political dilemma to Democratic lawmakers. Supporting Wolf’s veto would mean taking a series of votes against funding for educational and human services programs that they actually support.

“We cannot afford the delay that will occur with an unconstitutional veto attempt,” Wolf wrote. “Republican leadership cannot negotiate in good faith to move our Commonwealth forward while at the same time leveling public ultimatums and undertaking unconstitutional measures like this.”

Democrats vowed to oppose the GOP’s line-by-line veto override attempts to prevent Republicans from achieving the necessary two-thirds majority. Republicans insist their plan is serious and that nothing in case law or the constitution outlaws a veto override that targets a piece of the budget, rather than the whole vetoed bill.

In the letter, Wolf did not say how he would respond to last week’s Republican counterproposal on the budget.

The GOP met a key Wolf demand to boost public school aid, while insisting on an end to the traditional benefit in Pennsylvania’s two big public employee pension systems.

The governor said, however, he is taking the offer seriously and suggested he will look to Republicans for more concessions on funding for education and human services.

But the veto override plan “will distract from serious negotiations and shows once again that Republican leadership is not serious about reaching a consensus on the budget,” Wolf wrote.

Pennsylvania is nearly two months into its new fiscal year without the new year’s spending plan in place. On June 30, Wolf vetoed the GOP’s entire $30.2 billion budget bill within hours of its passage with only Republican support. Wolf’s $31.6 billion plan has stalled in the GOP-controlled Legislature.

Meanwhile, both sides are trying to get the upper hand in the political blame game.

Republicans accuse Wolf of holding safety-net service providers hostage to get what he wants, including a multibillion-dollar tax increase that Republicans oppose. Wolf did not need to veto the entire Republican budget, and could have allowed funding to keep flowing to crucial services while negotiations continued, Republicans say.

Wolf charges the Republican plan shortchanged schools and human services, let the Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling industry off the hook for a tax increase and worsened the state government’s long-term budget deficit.