HARRISBURG -- After taking the weekend off, the battle over a new state budget resumed today, with Gov. Ed Rendell claiming a budget plan passed by Senate Republicans is dead.

He also gave some faint praise to a budget proposal unveiled Friday by House Republicans, but said it has a long way to go before he could sign it. The state has been without a budget since July 1 and there has been little progress in settling disagreements among Mr. Rendell, some members of his Democrat party and Republicans.

Mr. Rendell said he is glad that House Republicans "have recognized the need for additional revenue'' to balance their $27.3 billion budget plan, but he had several severe criticisms of the House plan.

While it calls for $1.8 billion in one-time revenue, he said, "It doesn't have any recurring revenues," such as his call for a 16 percent increase in the personal income tax rate. Mr. Rendell said the 2009-10 budget cannot be balanced just with one-time revenues, such as money from the Rainy Day Fund, state forest leasing and tax amnesty.

Mr. Rendell also said the House GOP budget "is still $300 million out of whack," because it depends on two revenue sources he doesn't like -- $200 million from additional leasing of state land for natural gas drilling and $100 million from collection of unpaid taxes.

He said his administration has done a good job of collecting overdue taxes and doesn't think much more is collectible. He also thinks it sends the wrong message to honest taxpayers by giving breaks to tax scofflaws. He also disputed the idea that $200 million is available in additional leasing fees.

Mr. Rendell also criticized the House GOP plan for "making some even deeper spending cuts than was called for in Senate Bill 850," the $27.3 billion plan adopted by Senate Republicans in early May.

He said the House Republican budget would make $142 million in additional cuts to programs for children, including children's health insurance, pre-kindergarten classes and tutoring, as well as chopping $1 billion from basic education.

He said he's willing to negotiate many things, including the personal income tax increase, but "I will not accept that (basic education) reduction."

He convened a news conference today with dozens of advocates of education and children's programs, including Martha Isler of the United Way of Westmoreland County and the Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children.

She called the House GOP budget "a terrible budget for young children. It cuts what children need to become productive adults.''

Lloyd Lamb, a banker who is a member of the Early Learning Investment Commission, said, "A quality education makes a big difference in the lives of children from zero to five. It's a tangible economic return on this investment."

Mr. Rendell also disputed claims by Republican legislators that his personal income tax increase proposal is dead.

"Everything is still on the table,'' he said. "In sports and politics it's best not to say something is dead. A lot of people didn't think the Steelers would win the Super Bowl but they did.''

The House Appropriations Committee will meet a 4 this afternoon and is expected to send Senate Bill 850, the $27.3 billion Senate Republican budget, to the House floor for action. But House Republicans will, perhaps by later this week, try to amend the bill to insert their own $27.3 billion budget.

The Senate budget didn't contain any additional revenue but depended entirely on spending cuts. Such action in the House "spells the end of Senate Bill 850," the governor said.

If the House does change the Senate-passed bill, the revised version would have to return to the Senate for further action, and no one knows when the bill might go to Mr. Rendell. But he said he would veto it if it doesn't contain some recurring revenue and if it doesn't restore a lot of programs for children.

Meanwhile, this Friday, about 33,000 state workers will get paychecks that contain only 70 percent of their normal pay, because they won't be paid for days after July 1, Mr. Rendell said. And on July 24, another group of 44,000 workers will get checks containing only 20 percent of their normal pay -- not anything for days worked in July, when there has been no budget.

If the budget stalemate drags on into August, neither group will be paid at all until a budget is approved, Mr. Rendell said.

Also, Mr. Rendell, the outgoing president of the National Governors Association, said he won't be attended this week's NGA meeting in Mississippi because of the current budget crisis.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.