PHILLY.COM / AP: The utter breakdown in state budget negotiations in Pennsylvania didn’t happen overnight, but was produced by diametrically opposed policy positions and fueled by tough rhetoric among people elected specifically to work together…
It would follow Wolf vetoes of a bare-bones GOP budget in late June as well as a Republican stopgap budget last month. Neither budget was able to attract a single Democratic vote, and if anything they have made the impasse appear even more intractable.
Even before Wolf took office, Republican leaders were giving clear signals that his first year might be difficult, insisting in December that public-sector pension cuts and selling off the state liquor system had to happen before they would consider new taxes to close the deficit and boost spending on education and human services… (more)
