Transportation Advocates: We Can Win Pennsylvania House Vote
By Tony Romeo
HARRISBURG, Pa. (CBS) - Advocates for new state transportation funding are expressing confidence that a proposal passed by the state senate to raise $2.5-billion a year can win approval in the house this fall.
The house has been divided on transportation funding between majority Republicans who want less and Democrats who want more. A day after the house majority leader said he would call for an up or down vote on the senate bill, a broad coalition of business and labor leaders came to the state capitol Tuesday to push for its approval.
Rob Wonderling, president of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, criticized political delay tactics. But while some capitol insiders think the majority leader's plan for a vote is a political tactic – to kill a bill he doesn't like and believes lacks support – Wonderling thinks otherwise.
"We take the leader at his word," Wonderling said. "We would not be standing here if we weren't poised for success."
Wonderling says he believes efforts over the summer to convince reluctant legislators to vote for transportation funding have been successful.
