Monday's handshake deal on a new $28.2 billion general fund budget for Pennsylvania between Gov. Ed Rendell and Legislative leaders may not last long.
Members of both parties in the Legislature have criticized the spending plan.
Is there a chance Rendell and the Harrisburg party bosses could end up with egg on their faces if they can't get enough votes in the House to pass the budget?
Republican State Rep. Mike Turzai has already gone on record as saying he won't support the budget because it includes $2.8 billion in new debt.
"We get the benefit today and hold off the tax increase until tomorrow. We're going to be paying it back with your kids' and grandkids' money," Turzai told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Democrats hold a slim 102-101 majority in the House. They're going to need every member of their caucus to rubber-stamp the Rendell budget.
Even Rep. David Levdansky, the Democratic chairman of the House Finance Committee, has problems with the spending plan.
"There are no print-outs, no language, no summaries, no talking points. ... We all have more questions than answers," Levdansky told the Tribune-Review.
"They had a handshake agreement, a verbal commitment," Levdansky told reporter Debra Erdley about the deal forged between legislative leaders and the Rendell administration. "Now, it's a matter of translating that into writing."
Read the full story, "Critics of Pa.'s $28.2 billion deal blast sketchy details" at the newspaper's Web site.
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