More sparring on second day of public Pa. budget talks

HARRISBURG (AP) — Six top state legislators facing a monthlong budget stalemate pressed on for a second straight day with an unusual effort to negotiate the document in public — and more partisan sparring that drew criticism from Gov. Ed Rendell.

“This shouldn’t be theater,” Rendell told reporters today. “This shouldn’t be a circus.”

The conference committee that was appointed to break the logjam met for three hours in the morning and more discussion was expected later this afternoon.

Democrats on the panel have insisted on reviewing the impact of Republican-proposed budget cuts because that is important to their constituents, they said. But Republicans said Democrats have not yet showed how they would support the level of spending they want.

Normally, Pennsylvania’s budget negotiation process happens behind closed doors. Bargaining in the two-day-old public committee meetings, however, has yet to take place, and Rendell said the legislators should move beyond ideology and get down to business.

The sides are around $2 billion apart in figuring out how to resolve a multibillion-dollar, recession- driven falloff in tax receipts.

Pennsylvania is now one of three states without a settled budget in place for the current fiscal year.