Budget talks hit setback

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania’s state budget process jumped the tracks Saturday as a key participant stayed home, and top leaders did not meet, with just two days remaining in the fiscal year.

The House and Senate held brief voting sessions but an expected midafternoon budget session did not materialize, and both sides pointed fingers.

“You finally get to the point where you can’t budge any more off your position,” said House Majority Whip Keith McCall, D-Carbon.

At the other end of the Capitol, Senate Appropriations Committee chairman Gib Armstrong, R-Lancaster, said he was trying to “distinguish between the wants and the needs” in light of the state’s falling revenue figures.

“It’s part of the gamesmanship,” he said of the stall in talks. “We’re responsible — we don’t want to see anyone furloughed.”

Negotiators have whipsawed between optimism and frustration in recent days as pressure has mounted to strike a deal before the Monday night deadline.

Talks broke off late Friday with no sign of an agreement, a setback for those who earlier in the day had expressed guarded hope that an end to the annual budgetary tug-of-war might be near.

“We were on the 20-yard line, heading for the end zone,” House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese, D-Greene, said on the floor Saturday. “There was a fumble, and now we’re on the 29- or 32-yard line.”

House Appropriations Chairman Dwight Evans stayed away from the Capitol on Saturday. Evans said he had a family obligation in his Philadelphia district and was disappointed in the Senate Republicans’ approach to the talks.