PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Pennsylvania’s budget impasse drags on, with no end in sight. As legislative party leaders continue to fling mud, Gov. Josh Shapiro is trying to stay above the fray, calling for Senate Republicans and House Democrats to work together to hammer out a deal.
Senate leaders need to sign off on the budget bill before it heads to the governor’s desk. And both chambers have to take action on a series of supporting legislation for the budget, but they’re currently not due back until September.
Senate Republicans say they thought they had a deal that included the governor’s support of private school tuition vouchers for public school students in the lowest performing schools. But when House democrats pushed back on that and the budget deadline came and went, Shapiro agreed to line-item-veto vouchers to get the bill through the House.
Now those Republicans are using phrases such as “double-cross” and “broken promise” to complain about the change in position, but Shapiro shrugs off those comments.
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“There's a lot of posturing going on. There's a lot of politics. I'm focused on common sense solutions for the good people of Pennsylvania. My job is to do that important work for them to fight for them every day. That's what I'm doing. I'll leave the politics to those in the capital.”
Shapiro says he’s having “good conversations” with Senate Republican leader Joe Pittman and House Democratic leader Matt Bradford, but he says those two need to talk to each other to come to a workable agreement.
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