HARRISBURG -- With the largest budget cut in at least four decades, Republican lawmakers and Gov. Tom Corbett have reached a tentative agreement for 2011-12 that cuts spending by $1.1 billion.
Spending would fall 4.1 percent, from $28.3 billion this year to $27.15 billion in the fiscal year that begins July 1. The bill faces votes in the House and Senate this week as a deadline, set in state law, looms at midnight Thursday.
The budget process hit a potential snag Monday when Democrats in the House and Senate blocked appropriations for state-related universities, which are separate from the budget. The budget deal calls for 19 percent cuts for the University of Pittsburgh and Penn State and Temple universities.
The so-called "non-preferred" appropriations require a two-thirds vote. The Pitt appropriation garnered 125 votes in favor and 73 against in the House but failed to meet the two-thirds hurdle. It later failed in the Senate. Temple's appropriation also failed in both chambers.
Senate Democrats blocked appropriations for Penn State, but Republicans say it won't throw the budget off track.
"We're going forward with the budget," said House Majority Whip Stan Saylor, R-York. "The budget will still be done on time."
Democrats cited the proposed cuts, a lack of transparency on budget documents and Republicans failing to negotiate, as reasons for blocking state-related funding. The budget deal was crafted by GOP leaders.
"It seems to me right now it's obstructionist and it (state-related) university funding may not get done" before summer recess begins at the end of this week, said House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Bradford Woods. It appears there won't be enough time under House and Senate rules to get the appropriations passed, even if the Democrats relent, Turzai said.
"The Republicans have an obligation to come to the table," said Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill.
Republican lawmakers cited letters and e-mails from university officials saying that despite the cuts they want the appropriations approved.
Saylor said a delay in funding for universities could make boards of trustees more likely to raise tuition.
The overall 4 percent budget cut appears to be unprecedented in recent history, said G. Terry Madonna, a political science professor at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster County.
There's no record of a 4 percent cut since at least 1970, said Susan Hooper, spokeswoman for the governor's budget office.
"We're working towards a balanced budget that doesn't raise taxes and changes the culture of Harrisburg from a tax-and-spend policy to one of responsible, fiscal restraint," said Kevin Harley, Corbett's press secretary.
