Budget drama pervades Capitol

HARRISBURG -- The Pennsylvania state legislature has entered a panicked frenzy this week as lawmakers race to approve the budget, which leadership reached a handshake agreement on early Monday morning. Most lawmakers wanted to be out of Harrisburg by Friday.

But that's not likely to happen, according to Capitolwire (subscription required).

An attempt Wednesday night to work past 11 p.m., when the House is supposed to adjourn, failed when lawmakers complained it was ran contrary to reforms the House tried to make after the pay-raise scandal in 2005.

That prompted House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese (D-Greene County) to say the House will probably need to work Friday and Saturday.

"If we are able to suspend the rules through appropriate parliamentary mechanisms, it may obviate the necessity for us being here on Saturday," DeWeese said, according to Capitolwire. "The reality of us being here on Friday seems to be increasing by the millisecond."

Also unsettling to some lawmakers is the amount of time, or lack thereof, they're being given before they can personally review the budget. The Morning Call compared the air of secrecy to the 2005 pay-raise, and The Philadelphia Inquirer reported nobody is giving details about potential budget cuts.

State Rep. Glen Grell (R-Cumberland County) told PolitickerPA.com said the deal was negotiated with "little if any input from rank-and-file members."

"We still haven't see anything in terms of detail," he said.

He said some lamwakers have pushed the idea of letting everybody go home during the Fourth of July weekend until details of the agreement can be digested. But Grell said it appears the legislature will work straight through the holiday until the deal is finished.

The work schedule, lack of information and, perhaps most importantly, the inability offer amendments on the House floor have frustrated many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, Grell said.

"There's a lot of frustration," he said.

But even after the Gov. Ed Rendell signs the budget, the political drama might be ready to explode. 'Bonusgate' looms as a ticking time-bomb for the Legislature, The Patriot-News reports.

Attorney General Tom Corbett has been investigating all four caucuses for illegally handing out taxpayer-funded bonuses state staffers in exchange for campaign work, although House Democrats have received the bulk of the attention.