The House Appropriations Committee, voting along party lines Monday, rejected the Senate's $27.3 billion no tax increase budget.That leaves Gov. Ed Rendell's $29 billion deficit budget (with a variety of tax increases) on the table. And Rendell's budget does not address that $3.2 billion deficit in the current fiscal year.
Rep. Doug Reichley (R-Berks/Lehigh), Republican vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement:
"Today we saw firsthand the commitment of House Democrats to avoid passing a budget bill that reins in state spending and averts a state personal income tax increase. Senate Bill 850 spends significantly less than Governor Ed Rendell's budget proposal. The budget supported by Democrats has not been introduced yet, but will likely spend more money than Pennsylvania is capable of taking in without a tax increase amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars. They have not offered their own budget, or legislation detailing which taxes they would increase and by how much.
"None of the taxes the governor relies on for his budget have been detailed in bill form. No new proposal has been put forth by the governor now that his proposed budget from February is seriously out of balance.
"There are 22 days until the end of the fiscal year. Republicans will not be voting for tax increases to pay for more spending during this recession no matter how often Democrats tell us that we need to be taxed more.
"I put forth the idea that we can advance the budget process by reporting Senate Bill 850 from committee with a negative recommendation, which is permitted according to House rules, but this attempt to move forward was blocked with a partisan vote to defeat the bill. Now, we're back at square one, no closer to having a budget bill to debate on the House floor and with the governor touring the state to promote higher taxes."
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