HARRISBURG -- State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Cranberry, has come up with a new way to pay for road and bridge repairs, but Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell doesn't like it and it's unlikely the plan will go far in the Legislature.

Mr. Metcalfe today proposed cutting 10 per cent from the $10 billion-a-year state welfare budget and using that annual $1 billion in savings for road and bridge repairs. He criticized the Rendell administration for not doing enough to rein in the Department of Public Welfare's spending.

"We are here to present our drunk-with-power, spend-a-holic governor with a legitimate zero-growth budgetary solution that does not involve excessive spending, increased debt, higher taxes, or recklessly . . . leasing the Pennsylvania Turnpike to a foreign entity," Mr. Metcalfe said.

The Rendell administration wants to lease the turnpike, for 75 years, to a consortium made up of a Spanish firm and Citibank of New York City, which would pay the state a one-time $12.8 billion. Mr. Rendell would invest that and expects to get at least $1 billion a year for road/bridge repairs. The Legislature may vote on the lease plan this fall.

Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said the state shouldn't "place the burden for financing bridge and road repair on the backs of the most vulnerable Pennsylvanians. The consequences of this extreme proposal would be devastating."

The state already has approved Act 44 of 2007, which would generate transportation funding by raising turnpike polls starting in January and putting new tolls on Interstate 80. The federal government still must approve the I-80 tolling idea, however.