HARRISBURG– Republican Party of Pennsylvania Spokesman Mike Barley released the following statement regarding the state House Democrats’ attempts to circumvent normal procedure by passing transportation funding through the Appropriations Committee instead of the Transportation Committee.

“Once again, Bryan Lentz is in the middle of a flimsy Democratic plan to use backdoor tactics to waste taxpayer dollars,” Barley said. “With just 48 days to go before they lose control of the state House, Democrats like Bryan Lentz understand that it’s now or never for many of their most wasteful spending policies, whether the public has a chance to properly scrutinize their awful plans or not.”

“As a member of both the state House Transportation and Appropriation Committees, Bryan Lentz is firmly in the cross-hairs of the Democrats’ latest attempt to fast-track another spending bill. Will Bryan Lentz speak out against this blatant attempt to shield this spending bill from public scrutiny, or will he get in line behind his colleagues and rubberstamp yet another wasteful tax-and-spend plan?”

Yesterday, Capitolwire.com reported that state House Democrats are introducing their transportation spending bill in the Appropriations Committee rather than the Transportation Committee in an attempt to fast track the legislation. Democrats admitted that they are breaking from normal procedure, “because they believe the bill has a better chance of passing out of the Appropriations panel.” (Jim Quirk, “House Transportation Bill Heading To Appropriations Panel, Not Transportation,” Capitolwire.com, 9/14/10)

# # #