Senate Republicans need more funding to manage same districts
By Darwyyn Deyo | PA Independent
HARRISBURG — Despite calls for other departments to tighten their belts, legislative salaries in this year’s proposed budget are up by $32 million — because of misappropriations in years past.
In the budget expected to be passed by the state House on Thursday, legislative funding will decrease by $15.5 million, but more than $15 million of that total is coming out of the House of Representatives while the state Senate is having its budget cut by only $384,000.
In some areas, however, the Legislature actually is getting an increase. The Senate’s caucus operations funding will get a $3.4 million increase over this past year’s budget, for Republicans and Democrats. Gov. Tom Corbett’s initial budget had cut funding for caucus operations from $93.7 million to $90.8 million, but the state Senate restored caucus funding nearly in full, up to $93.3 million.
Caucus operations also fund legislative staff salaries and benefits, legislators’ district operations, and overhead costs for caucus meetings. Caucus meetings are closed-door discussions where senators and representatives of each party discuss policy and strategy on legislation. Top Republicans and Democrats in the Senate agreed on the need for more funding.
Drew Crompton, chief of staff for President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, said the caucus operations also had been underfunded for years, requiring the increase.
“Historically, the caucus operations (costs in the Senate) have been split evenly between the Republicans and the Democrats,” said Crompton. “Over the many years, the Senate Republicans have had to deal with running 30 offices with an appropriation for 25. Finally we realized we just simply could not continue that course, and therefore there was an increase.”
State Sen. Vince Hughes, D-Philadelphia, minority chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he was concerned about the direction of Republican spending in the budget, but said the increase for their caucus operations was “fair.”
“What I do know (is) we’ve been reducing our spending on the Senate Democrat side, dramatically over the last five years now,” said Hughes. “Obviously, there are ongoing costs … especially around health care and things of that nature, which are rising for everybody.”
Tim Potts, executive director of Democracy Rising PA, a nonprofit government accountability group, said the legislative cuts are more accurately a reshuffling of funds from one agency to another.
The Legislature and state government support agencies “cost taxpayers $ 1,220,180 per work day of the year,” Potts said.
“And they can’t figure out how to save any of that money?” he asked. “They create diversions that keep people from looking at what they’re doing for themselves.”
But Potts said there is very little Pennsylvanians can do to protest the move before the next election in 2012.
“Part of the reason why we don’t get the budget until the night before (it’s) voted on is so citizens can’t look at it and tell their legislators, ‘We like that’ and ‘We don’t like that,’” said Potts. “The one thing legislators value over everything else is keeping their jobs. That’s the only leverage citizens have.”
