Pennsylvania schools and social-service agencies can finally take a sigh of relief.
After nine months of nonexistent cooperation among the Republican House, Senate and Gov. Tom Wolf, the Pennsylvania budget that has caused schools and clinics to shut down or rely on loans and reserve funds is finally set to pass this Sunday.
And no, it wasn’t because Republicans and Wolf finally agreed to the budget’s contents.
The budget they’ve been fighting over for more than half a year will finally pass without a signature from Wolf, whose inaction is causing the budget to be even further delayed until Sunday when it could’ve very well passed today with his signature. The budget isn’t even balanced, and it’s clear Wolf is begrudgingly throwing in the towel and acquiescing.
Wolf’s inaction has cost Pennsylvanians their jobs, caused services such as domestic abuse shelters to cut corners and pushed Pitt to briefly dip into its reserves.
To avoid another budget crisis, Wolf can’t wait around assuming he’ll win in a budget fight against a Republican-controlled House and Senate. Rather, he needs to understand the political climate in Harrisburg and remember who he’s answering to — Pennsylvanians.
When it’s time to pass next year’s budget, Pennsylvanians can’t afford politicians in Harrisburg recreating the same antics we’ve seen for months. Wolf must consider the welfare and immediate concerns of his state over party politics if he wants to avoid a budget impasse 2.0 next fiscal year.
Yesterday, the governor’s release highlighted the “looming crisis” that will come from this budget.
“This will allow for funding to go out to schools and other services in the short term,” Wolf said, “but we still face enormous problems that this budget does not even pretend to address.”
The Republican-penned package delivers a $200 million boost to public school aid, half of what Wolf had originally wanted, and a five percent increase for state-subsidized universities.
Yes, the Republican’s budget may have not been ideal and will leave Pennsylvania with a $2 billion deficit because it isn’t balanced, according to his administration’s calculations. But there was a time and place to have that argument, and that was in July 2015, not March 2016, when schools like East Allegheny High School were worrying about being able to pay their teachers next week.
Both Wolf and Republicans will have to resume budget discussions for the fiscal year starting July 1, and Republicans are already steadfast in not initiating any tax increases.
“We must face this reality this year and balance our budget with real, sustainable revenues,” Wolf said.
For the sake of Pennsylvanians, our governor needs to assume the leadership position voters delegated to him. This means Wolf needs to take into account the circumstances he’s up against — a Republican House and Senate reluctant to spend, and one that has proven hard to budge.
Facing reality this year means putting his constituency first and negotiating responsibly with his opposition.
Hopefully, after this debacle, our governor realizes that inaction is just as — if not more — dangerous than action.