Senator Jay Costa: Well, I think the Governor was very direct. He told the people of Pennsylvania, the General Assembly, that we have a crisis looming here in Pennsylvania. It’s a fiscal crisis. And that we have a job to do, and we have to come to grasp with the reality that we have a two billion dollar structural debt as we’re going forward. And that’s without one single additional dollar being spent in terms of making investments in education, human service programs, or economic development, or community valorization programs. Nothing gets changed along those lines. And we still have a two billion dollar structural deficit, largely because we played games and gimmicks, and provided for gimmicks over the course of the past several years. That, as they say, the hen has come home to roost, so to speak. And that’s why we have to deal with this crisis before we do anything else.
Male: What do you think that the Governor came up with that is a good solution that the legislature might get behind?
Senator Jay Costa: Well, I think the legislature should get behind the framework, the Bipartisan Framework Agreement that everyone agreed to months ago, and the Senate passed overwhelmingly in a Bipartisan fashion. Not only on the budget with an acknowledgement to the revenue side, but also the policy issues that folks want us to talk about. Pension reform, [unintelligible 00:01:04] modernization reform. Those are two of the key components that republicans said we must have these things. We provided them in the Senate in Bipartisan way. Now we have to get our house colleagues to become a law, but that’s the starting point for us to have a resolution to the budget crisis going forward.
Male: And finally, what do you think as far as the stalemate? Does it continue? Do we break open? What are your feelings on that?
Senator Jay Costa: Well, my hope is that we get back to the bargaining table sooner than later. I think that’s what this was designed to do. Unless folks know that we have a real serious crisis that needs to be addressed, but then beyond that, how we go about solving that. The Governor’s put on the table, a lot of us have put ideas on the table about how we reconcile that, and we don’t get that done until we get in the room and agree to make an agreement, and then stand by the agreement, because that’s what’s happened. Folks who made an agreement on multiple cases, still with the Governor and the various leaders from the four caucuses, and then walk away from the agreement. We can’t have that. And we have to make certain that we get together, and work, and resolve the issues that need to be resolved.
Male: Okay. Thanks.