Philly lawmaker calls on House colleagues to return for budget work

A Pennsylvania lawmaker said it’s time to get back to the bargaining table and come up with a budget that better adheres to the framework worked out by all sides early this month. 

State Rep. Jordan Harris, D-Philadelphia, said he’s ready to return to Harrisburg and hammer out a spending plan that provides the funding for schools and social services sought by Gov. Tom Wolf. “I am still waiting for House Speaker Mike Turzai to call the Pennsylvania House of Representatives back to Harrisburg,  so that we can work on the framework that was agreed to,” Harris said Monday morning during groundbreaking ceremonies for a South Philadelphia playground makeover.Harris said he can’t believe lawmakers left the capital without a finished budget.”It is unconscionable that we left Harrisburg before the holiday when we had the votes to pass a real budget that would be real for Philadelphia, real for our school district, real for human services, and real for these young people,” he said.Harris said a workable budget could bring $100 million in new funding to Philadelphia.

Instead, the Senate sent Wolf the main appropriations bill in the House GOP’s $30.3 billion spending package in an effort to get money flowing to schools and social service agencies. It includes hundreds of millions less than what Wolf wanted for schools and social services.

It also lacks some supporting legislation — and funding for state-related universities, including Penn State, remains hung up in the Legislature.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.