* This deficit is the product of Turzai’s watch, not Wolf’s. Each of the governor’s budget proposals has achieved balance through a combination of government restructuring, a long overdue tax on natural gas production and broad structural tax reform — all of which has been rejected by Turzai’s caucus because it would offend favored interests.
* Now, Turzai should at least get his caucus out of the way so that Wolf and the Senate can resolve this year’s budget and take steps toward long-term solvency.
Scranton Times-Tribune: Turzai should get House out of way
By The Editorial Board
House Speaker Mike Turzai scheduled a rare weekend session of his chamber, anticipating that it finally would pass a bill to actually fund the purported state budget that it passed nearly a month ago.
Scheduling a Saturday session on a high-profile bill is equivalent to the bugle call in a Western movie just before the cavalry charges over the hill to save the day. But in Pennsylvania, Turzai’s F Troop riders just fall from their horses again and again.
The state government has a $2 billion-plus systemic deficit that Turzai and other Republican leaders want to cover without a tax increase — at least a tax increase for which they can be held accountable. Turzai’s preference — which was rejected by the legislators he called to session — was to use future state revenue as collateral to borrow about $1.5 billion in the market and bleed hundreds of millions more from off-budget state programs. That borrowing, which directly contradicts core Republican principles, would defer a tax increase to future taxpayers.
Farcically, Turzai said the sizable House GOP majority did not want to “bail out” the Senate or Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. This deficit is the product of Turzai’s watch, not Wolf’s. Each of the governor’s budget proposals has achieved balance through a combination of government restructuring, a long overdue tax on natural gas production and broad structural tax reform — all of which has been rejected by Turzai’s caucus because it would offend favored interests.
The Senate, also with a sizable Republican majority, has been more responsible but its efforts to meet Wolf halfway often have been rejected by Turzai’s majority in the House.
The House majority is Exhibit A against gerrymandering. Too many members from politically cooked districts forgo actual governance for ideology, digging in their heels and exacerbating, rather than solving, problems. Now, as the House ponders borrowing money, it’s conduct risks yet another credit downgrade that will make the borrowing more expensive.
Now, Turzai should at least get his caucus out of the way so that Wolf and the Senate can resolve this year’s budget and take steps toward long-term solvency.
Read the editorial here.