All sides say they are happy with budget deal during difficult economic times

HARRISBURG -- 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.

The legislative leaders who spoke, Republicans and Democrats alike, echoed Rendell's remarks. Everyone had to accept displeasing parts of the budget to make sure an agreement was reached before state workers were furloughed, they said.

"It may not be perfect, we may not love it, but we all had to give up something," said Dwight Evans (D-Philadelphia), House Appropriations Chairman.

Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-Delaware County) said he felt much better about this budget resolution than last year's, when an agreement wasn't reached until July 17.

"It was absolutely necessary to get this product delivered today," Pileggi said.

Rendell refused to divulge many specific details of the agreement, saying only compromises had been reached on energy, infrastructure investments and overall spending. He added that basic education subsidy remained the same.

He also took great pains to not tarnish his image as a progressive governor, emphasizing that the cuts he made were not nearly as significant as those in other states facing budget deficits.

The budget doubled as a send-off to state Sen. Vince Fumo (D-Philadelphia), who remained a prominent figure during his last budget negotiations despite his health and upcoming federal trial on corruption charges. Fumo, who is not seeking re-election, collapsed on the Senate floor Thursday after being dehydrated and worn down by the negotiations but was back by Saturday.

"We will miss Senator Fumo in this process," Rendell said.

Senate Democrats gave Fumo the honor of speaking for them during the press conference.

"I'm going to miss this," he said. "There are a lot of new faces, but I think they'll know what to do in the future."

He ended by saying, "To all of you, I'll miss this, but God bless."