PENNSYLVANIA Urge senators to act soon, Rendell tells Dem activists

The state's lawmakers go back to work Monday.
HARRISBURG (AP) -- While Senate negotiators wrestled backstage over legislation to plug holes in the state budget, expand learning programs in the public schools and increase state taxes, Gov. Ed Rendell urged thousands of Democratic activists Tuesday to lobby their senators to act promptly.
"Don't underestimate your ability to help. A phone call or letter to your senator could make a difference," Rendell said in a two-page message that state Democratic Party officials said they e-mailed to about 5,000 party faithful.
With the holiday season approaching and more than $4 billion in basic school subsidies still frozen in the fifth month of the fiscal year, lawmakers will be under the gun when they reconvene Monday.
Other major issues also are unresolved -- an expansion of a program that provides low-cost drugs to senior citizens and a $1 billion plan to legalize slot machines to raise money for property-tax relief, for example. The immediate focus, however, will be on restoring the subsidies and other spending cuts made last spring, as well as educational initiatives on which Rendell is demanding action, and how to pay for it all.
A $1.1 billion package approved by the House last month would restore the subsidies and erase many other spending cuts. It also would set aside $200 million for block grants that schools could put toward Rendell's early-childhood initiatives and $49 million to expand tutoring programs and Head Start preschool programs for needy children. The House proposal would increase the state income tax from 2.8 percent to 3.25 percent Jan. 1, then roll it back to 3.1 percent July 1. It also would increase levies on telephones.
The Senate Appropriations Committee has recommended cutting more than $300 million from the House bill, mostly in discretionary legislative spending but also $50 million from the educational block grants. Rendell opposes cutting the grants.
Gary Tuma, spokesman for Sen. Vincent J. Fumo of Philadelphia, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said progress has been made but that he is not convinced that a compromise can be reached and approved before Thanksgiving.
Republicans hope to avoid an increase in the income tax. Republican leaders reiterated that one option for reducing the overall expense is to postpone the educational initiatives that Rendell wants this year.
Rendell, who is winding up his first year as governor, indicated in his message that he remains adamant about getting the educational programs in place this year, however.