Dems Block Funding For Universities To Try To Get Them More

State funding for state-related schools including the University of Pittsburgh could be halted until September.
The bills dictating what the schools get in state money are the rare bills that require a two-thirds majority vote – so Senate and House Democrats were able to keep the measures from passing Monday evening.
The Democrats say they want to get more money for the schools which are being cut by 19%.
But Republican Representative Stan Saylor of York County says this will only hold things up.

"We’re not gonna deal with these until we come back in September now. Because again, we’re not going to wait around and play games. Because we don’t know when they’re going to give us votes. They haven’t said."

Democratic Representative Dan Frankel of Pittsburgh says Republicans left Democrats out of the loop on spending decisions for too long.

So we’re brought in on June 27th to have that conversation. So we’re expected to roll over because they have a date of June 30th to get this bill done? Well if they were concerned about getting the bill – the budget done on time, they should have included the caucus in on the discussions at a much earlier time.

But House Republicans say this won’t delay the passage of a budget – although it might delay state funding for the schools in question -- Penn State, Pitt, Temple, and Lincoln.
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