GOP accuses Democrats of holding transportation funding plan hostage

House Republicans are accusing their Democratic colleagues of holding a transportation funding hostage and refusing to negotiate the terms for its release.

The House Republican leadership adjourned abruptly on Saturday night, hoping that the break might buy the time needed to prod the Democrats to share what their demands were in exchange for providing the votes needed to pass a bill out of the chamber.

The House was expected to discuss amendments to a plan approved by the House Transportation Committee that raised nearly $2 billion in new spending. It proposed uncapping the oil company franchise tax, as well as myriad of fines and fees on motorists.

Democratic support is needed since the plan drew rabid opposition from conservative members who saw it as a tax increase at a time when people can?t afford it.

Rep. Dave Reed, R-Indiana, declined to say how many of the 111 GOP caucus supported the bill, except that it was a majority. But he added there has been a longstanding understanding that transportation funding bills would be a bi-partisan effort.

?We are prepared to deal with transportation. It is our understanding the House Democrats are somewhat united in opposing transportation completely and at that point, we do not have the votes to do transportation in the House,? Reed said at an impromptu news conference in the Capitol newsroom late Saturday night.

He said they are willing to alter the bill to meet Democratic needs provided it doesn?t go too far that it costs them support from a majority of Republicans.

But Democrats saw it differently. They complained that Republicans excluded them in all the big-table discussions about issues being tied to the budget.

"If the governor and Republican leaders truly expected significant help from House Democrats, they needed to honestly work with us sooner than two days ago," said House Democratic spokesman Bill Patton. "Since 2011, House Democrats consistently explained our goals for transportation, and the things we could not accept. The Republicans ignored us at every turn."

As for the House Transportation Committee-approved plan that they price out at $1.8 billion in new spending, Democrats say it comes up short on mass transit and doesn?t generate enough money.

"If you look at the current transportation bill, I don't think anybody's sacrificing transportation. If anything, we're holding out to try and make sure transportation actually does get funded," said Rep. Mike Sturla, D-Lancaster.

This hold-up blows any chance of meeting Gov. Tom Corbett?s goal of having this public works legislation ready for him to sign by the midnight Sunday, along with a budget, unless both chambers break all of their procedural rules.

Senate Democrats along with Senate and House Republicans and Corbett have trumpeted the need to invest more money in addressing the state?s crumbling infrastructure for safety reasons as well as economic ones. They also touted that it offered the side benefit of creating jobs all across the state.

Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson County, voiced disappointment at the way the transportation issue is playing out in the House after a $2.5 billion plan passed the Senate by a 45-5 vote this spring.

"It's unfortunate that the House Democrats are clearly jeopardizing, I think, millions of dollars in work, mass transit, jobs. I've heard for days here that they're all for jobs, but they're killing the biggest jobs bill that we have in the state. Clearly they can change their position yet tonight or tomorrow (Sunday), but we're a little disappointed that a bipartisan effort in the House is failing because of the House Democrats,? Scarnati said after a late-night meeting with Corbett.

Meanwhile, House Republicans pointed to an email from union leaders as perhaps the culprit behind the Democrats? stubbornness about negotiate their demands. The email urged union members to call on lawmakers to vote against the transportation bill ?until the Senate pulls the plug on privatization of the state stores.?

The transportation stalemate also had implications for the liquor privatization effort sitting in the Senate. Sources close to that issue said that it was highly unlikely that the Senate leadership would send that bill to the House before they received the transportation plan.

Patton said Republican leadership is grasping to place the blame for Saturday's inaction on somebody other than themselves.

"The only people who ever linked liquor and transportation are the Republican leaders. Democrats are not linking the issues. We oppose the Republican transportation bill because it is a terrible bill, pure and simple," he said.

Reed declined to say how many Democratic votes were needed to reach the magic number of 102 to move the bill to the Senate for a vote.

But he and Rep. Mike Vereb, R-Montgomery, noted that both Corbett and former Gov. Ed Rendell were working to curry some Democratic support.

?They are not returning phone calls. They are not returning phone calls to our leader. They are not returning phone calls to us trying to get in touch with them, trying to have meetings, trying to figure out what their concerns were,? Vereb said.

?All they did here was stick it to the building trades of Pennsylvania, stick it to Pennsylvania. And when you want to hold a hostage, you better know what you want. And if they don?t come to the table, we?re never going to know what they want.?

Staff writer Charles Thompson contributed.

*This post has been updated to include House Democratic spokesman Bill Patton's comments.

Source: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/06/gop_accuses_democrats_of_holdi.html

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