Pa. Budget Talks: Progress, But No Breakthroughs
By Tony Romeo
HARRISBURG, Pa., (CBS) -- Democratic Governor Tom Wolf and Republican legislative leaders say talks Tuesday on Pennsylvania's three week-old budget stalemate were productive, but there were no breakthroughs reported.
Perhaps the best sign is that Tuesday's negotiating session between the governor and GOP legislative leaders, which lasted more than three hours, was by far the longest since Wolf vetoed a Republican-passed budget on the night of June 30th. But House Majority Leader Dave Reed admitted that the meeting was almost entirely devoted to discussion of spending, not to talk about the wide gulf on the issue of taxes. But Reed says the differences are narrowing.
"It's not exactly going quickly, but they are getting smaller. And when we have a better understanding of the justifications behind the differences from both perspectives, it makes it a little bit easier going forward to see, 'OK, How you resolve those differences?'"
An upbeat Governor Wolf agreed that there is a better understanding of the differences, declaring, "we're going to figure this out."