budget negotiations

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- The wee hours of early Monday morning yielded the first on-time budget agreement during Gov. Ed Rendell's six-year administration when he and legislative leaders announced a handshake deal they deemed fair and necessary during difficult economic times. The budget proposal calls for a 3.8 percent spending increase -- 0.4 percentage points fewer than what Rendell called for in his original budget proposal. He said he cut a little more than $500 million from his proposal, reductions he said were unfortunately necessary while a struggling economy shrinks tax revenue.

After two days of stalled progress and at times heated rhetoric, budget negotiators will try once again this afternoon to reach an agreement before Monday's fast-approaching deadline.

Spending disagreements continue to separate the two sides. Republicans are asking for an additional $200 million to $250 million in cuts; Democrats say they've already reduced their spending proposal by $600 million. They have not made any progress bridging that gap in two days, although Speaker of the House Dennis O'Brien (R-Philadelphia) said talks between staff members, if not leadership, yielded progress Saturday.

Each side still remains confident a handshake deal will be reached before June 30.

"The differences are not insurmountable by any stretch of the imagination," Greg Fajt, Gov. Ed Rendell's chief of staff, said yesterday. Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-Delaware County) echoed his belief earlier in the day.

Today's negotiations are scheduled to begin at 4 p.m., although scheduling a definite time for these talks has proven about as effective as building a sandcastle during a hurricane.

PolitickerPA.com will be here to document all the action.

See also:

• No talks Saturday, but optimism remains for handshake agreement by June 30
• Budget negotiations to resume Saturday after 'disappointing' Friday talks

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Budget negotiations among state Democratic and Republican leaders in the Keystone State have gone from productive, to disappointing, to non-existent in fewer than three days after they did not meet Saturday. But the negotiators don't seem worried. Although they reiterated their displeasure with the other side's budget, each also said Saturday's absence of talks doesn't shake their optimism that a "handshake" agreement can be reached by Monday's June 30 deadline.

HARRISBURG -- With a June 30 deadline looming to resolve Pennsylvania's budget showdown, Republicans emerged from Friday night's negotiations at the Capitol saying they needed between $200 million to $250 million in cuts to agree to a deal.

Democrats emerged from the same meeting saying they've already cut $600 million and accused Republicans of shifting their demands.

The two sides agreed only that the night's talks were disappointing.