Gov: We Have the Votes for a Budget
We’ve said it before, and been fully justified in doing so: We won’t believe that a state budget deal has been achieved until Gov. Tom Wolf signs the final legislation. Hopes have been raised too many times.
However…
The Associated Press is reporting that the Wolf Administration is now proclaiming that is has the votes in the Pennsylvania House to finally get a budget — along with some associated tax hikes — passed.
“We are confident that we have the votes to pass this,” said Jeffrey Sheridan, Wolf’s spokesman. “We look forward to this impasse coming to an end so we can move Pennsylvania forward.”
House Republicans had opposed the taxes need to fund the $30.8 billion budget that House leaders, along with Gov. Wolf and Senate Republicans, had agreed to. Getting to a majority of House members to vote for the plan, then, would seem to require a coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans voting together against conservative Republicans.
That, in turn, would leave House Republican leaders in an awkward position. Rep. Dave Reed, the House Majority Leader, refused to say how he would vote. He told AP: “We’ll see how everything turns out.”
