From The AP:

The latest effort to amend Pennsylvania’s constitution to effectively ban same-sex marriage is stalling. The state Senate Judiciary Committee voted narrowly Tuesday to table the measure defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. The senators didn’t utter a word of debate before or after gay-rights proponent Sen. Daylin Leach proposed to table the measure. The vote was 8-6.

Pennsylvania law already defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. But proponents of a constitutional amendment say a judge could overturn the law, even though Pennsylvania courts are not believed to be considering a challenge to that law. The bill was sponsored by conservative Sen. John Eichelberger. Opponents of the amendment say lesbians and gays deserve the same rights as straight Americans.

From Politico:

Republican leaders in the House officially backed a one-year moratorium on earmarks, upstaging Democrats who instituted a more limited ban today. It is also a clear signal that the Republican Conference is likely to not request earmarks in 2011 spending bills. A joint statement from Republican leaders Wednesday evening said that “the earmark process in Congress has become a symbol of a broken Washington. We believe the time has come for House Republicans to adopt an immediate, unilateral moratorium on all earmarks.” House Republicans will meet Thursday morning at 9:30 to debate the proposal, and a decision could be handed down at the meeting’s close.

Earlier this week, U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts joined 18 other Republicans in calling for a one-year moratorium on earmark requests for GOP members, saying “out of control earmarks are a symptom of our larger inability to balance the federal budget.”

Two Lancaster County residents, Dan Gallagher and Matthew Cleveland, are starting up a local affiliate of the Green Party of Pennsylvania. Its first meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Lancaster Public Library,125 North Duke St. in Lancaster. “All locals interested in participating in a change of thinking outside the two party system that has brought us the same result year after year are welcome,” Cleveland, of Elizabethtown, said in announcing the organization. The party hopes to soon elect officers, and has established bylaws. The organizers say the party is dedicated to “addressing everyday issues” such as land preservation, traffic congestion, environmental, health and safety concerns, social and racial justice, and overall responsible government. Its Web site is www.LancasterGreenParty.org.

U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts joined 18 other Republicans in calling for a one-year moratorium on earmark requests for GOP members. “Out of control earmarks are a symptom of our larger inability to balance the federal budget and we cannot wait any longer to control spending,” Pitts said in announcing his support for the temporary ban. “We need to come together as a conference and take a stand for fiscal responsibility.”

Meantime, his Democratic challenger, Lois Herr of Elizabethtown, criticized the lawmaker’s “no” vote on the Keeping All Students Safe Act, which aims to prevent and reduce the use of physical restraint and seclusion in schools. “Once again, Joe Pitts voted against the best interests of his constituents; our Congressman voted ‘NO’ against this legislation,” Herr posted on her campaign Web site. “Not surprising because Pitts doesn’t seem to know how to vote ‘yea’ on anything unless it directly benefits his financial backers.”

You remember what Gov. Ed Rendell said about Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett’s no-tax-hike pledge last week. Here’s what Corbett had to say in response, via KDKA:

Corbett has pledged, as governor, to never raise state taxes. “No tax increases during the course of the next term, that’s exactly what it says,” he said. “That’s what we’re going to aim for — no tax increases whatsoever.” Last week, Governor Rendell said such a pledge was irresponsible, adding that Corbett should “have his head examined.” “I am not surprised that governor who has increased the debt service by over 90 million dollars for our debt would say that,” retorts Corbett. “We are spending way out of control, and this is my promise we will get spending under control. We will start the cuts.” Corbett says he will roll back the spending under Rendell and he knows some legislators will resist. “Are we going to bang heads? Yeah, probably. Whenever you’re having to cut that much, it’s whose ox is being gored. In this one, I think it’s pretty much going to be shared across the board.”

Corbett did not say where he would make cuts.

State Rep. Tom Creighton, a 9-year veteran of the state House, is facing a surprise challenger for the Republican nomination in May. A retired industrial-arts teacher from Penn Township, Barry I. McFarland, has collected the 300 signatures necessary to appear on the GOP’s May 18 primary ballot, according to the Department of State.

McFarland, 68, is a Manheim native and U.S. Navy veteran who graduated from Millersville University with a teaching degree in 1971, according to an online bio. He taught for about 28 years in the Donegal School District before retiring in 1999. He also served on the Manheim Central School Board for eight years in the mid 1980s and early 1990s, and ran unsuccessfully for county commissioner in 1991. He is currently teaching in the Engineering Department of York College, and lives in a retirement community with his wife, Joyce.

Creighton, of Rapho Township, is seeking his sixth term in the House. An Altoona native, he holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Juniata College and master’s in physics/math from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. The deadline to file nomination petitions is 5 p.m. today.

U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts, who says Congress has been distracted from what should be its No. 1 priority right now (jobs), voted against the so-called jobs bill this week. The $15 billion measure would give employers an exemption from their 6.2 percent Social Security payroll contribution for every new employee hired through the rest of the year, so long as that employee had been out of work for at least 60 days.

The bill passed the House anyway. So why did Pitts vote against it? In a statement, the Republican lawmaker said this: “It is critically important that Congress focus on getting Americans back to work, I just don’t think that this bill will help. This bill contained a permanent tax increase to pay for temporary tax relief. I think we can help small businesses with real and permanent relief that they can count on, not a temporary break that will disappear after a year.”

Pitts’ office also pointed out the 35 Democrats voted against this bill despite the fact that Democratic leadership was calling it a “jobs bill.” It only passed by a handful of votes. “That’s pretty significant opposition considering the subject matter,” a spokesman said. “We didn’t even know the content of this bill until 10:30 [Thursday] morning when it appeared at the Rules Committee. There was no attempt to let members, Republican or Democrat, contribute to writing this bill. The bill gets written behind closed doors, it’s sent to the floor, and we either take it or leave it.”

The always quotable governor of Pennsylvania stopped by the offices of Lancaster Newspapers following his appearance at Filling’s this afternoon. Rendell was pitching his proposed “revenue enhancers” — an expansion and reduction of the state sales tax, closing the state’s notorious Delaware Loophole and taxing cigars and smokeless tobacco, as well as drilling in the Marcellus Shale regions. They’d generate about $2.5 billion over the next two years — money Pennsylvania needs to help plug projected deficits of $6.5 billion in 2013.

He also made reference to the no-tax-hike pledges made by some of the gubernatorial candidates, namely Republican frontrunner Tom Corbett.

“When you hear the political candidates — both Democrats and Republicans — say, ‘We don’t have to raise taxes. We can do it by cutting the budget,’ there’s no way they can do it by cutting the budget,” Rendell said.

Both Republican candidates for governor, Corbett and primary opponent Sam Rohrer, have signed pledges not to raise taxes. And Corbett, the state’s attorney general, told Republican State Committee people last month that the state should cut spending.

Rendell, referring to Corbett, said: “I see that the leading Republican just signed a no-tax pledge. He needs to have his head examined.”

Rendell said Corbett and Rohrer should be challenged on their pledges.

“One of the things I think the media should do is, when someone says that, say, ‘Where? Tell us where you’re going to cut and what the consequences of that should be. If you’re going to cut the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources 20 percent, what parks are you going to close? The citizen have the right to know. What museums and what scenic outposts are you going to close?’” Rendell asked.

Rendell’s prediction?

“Whoever the governor is and whoever the Legislature is will have to raise taxes. No question,” he said. “But they won’t raise enough taxes. They’ll make some illusory cuts and they’ll pass the tax burden to the local property tax.”

Here is Romney responding to Matt Lauer, who asked whether President Obama has done anything right, on The Today Show Wednesday: “Yeah. No question about it, he’s done several things well. … He boosted our effort in Afghanistan, which is the right course to take.”

Here is Romney a few hours later, responding to Sean Hannity: “Look, I think he’s [President Obama] a lot worse than tone deaf. I think he has such a low level of experience in dealing with tough situations like this that he’s made some classic errors. … [Obama] should have been making sure that we’re successful in our fight against terrorism around the world particularly in Afghanistan. But instead he diverted onto health care.”

Snarlen takes the lead in his bid for a sixth term in the U.S. Senate, according to today’s Quinnipiac University poll. Specter also has a 24-point lead over primary challenger U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak.