Enough already, Lt. Gov. Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson County, says, it's time for Gov. Ed Rendell to stop using state workers as pawns and to start paying them."It is clear that the governor does not recognize that Pennsylvania families live paycheck to paycheck or he would follow the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and refrain from using payless paydays as a budgetary scare tactic," Scarnati said.

Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said the state constitution forbids the state from spending money that is not appropriated. "The Commonwealth Court decision last year found that the state constitution overrides the federal law" that requires timely payment for time worked, Ardo said. "We would like nothing better than to pay state workers, and that is exactly why we have been saying all along the budget should be done and done quickly."

Scarnati disagrees with the administration's interpretation that the state constitution trumps federal law. He claims it is an interpretation that Rendell is using to try to force Senate Republicans to give in to his demand for a tax increase to support a higher level of state spending.

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