Representative Garth Everett (R-Muncy) charged that members were not provided with an ample opportunity to influence budgetary decisions. Specifically, Rep. Everett took aim at Appropriations Chairman Dwight Evans (D-Philadelphia). Rep. Evans has allowed the budget to stall in committee so that there will be less time to amend the budget and discuss changes before the June 30th deadline. Everett threatened to introduce a discharge resolution to bring the bill to the floor.
Rep. Evans fired back stating that this particular process has been more open than prior sessions and has included hearings open to all members and meetings in various locations across the state. In addition, Evans' staff stated that Everett was simply playing politics with the issue and had amply time to amend the budget since its been posted publicly.
However, Evans has previously acknowledged that there is a "public-side" and a "private-side" to the budget process. Evans referred to the private side of the debate as where the real decisions are made because, according to Evans:
"You got 253 people in that process and the reality of it is we're no different than your household if you tried to make a decision about the budget."
Last I checked, households do encourage input from all family members affected by the decisions and make it a "public" process.
Dealing in private allows Evans to bring more money back to Philadephia--not surprising. However, it's unfair then for Evans to turn around an criticize a representative for attempting to express the interest of his rural constituency.
For Rep. Evans to say that Everett is "playing politics" with the issue is somewhat ironic given the nature of Evans' own dealings as chairman.
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