HARRISBURG -- More than 12,000 Pennsylvanians -- public school teachers plus state, county and municipal workers -- would lose their jobs if the U.S. Senate doesn't vote today for a six-month extension of federal Medicaid funds, Gov. Ed Rendell said Tuesday.

He said the layoffs of 3,000 teachers, 4,000 state workers and 5,500 county and local jobs, including firefighters, emergency service workers, welfare and social services workers, would occur in early September if the state doesn't get the additional money under the Federal Medicaid Assistance Percentage, part of the federal stimulus program.

"The layoffs of over 12,000 people would hurt us, especially when Pennsylvania has begun doing well in the last four months, with a gain of 60,000 in private sector jobs," Mr. Rendell said. "We want to keep good jobs and keep the economy rolling in the right direction."

He spoke to reporters in a conference phone call, along with Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter and U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer of California. She said her state would be hurt even worse, losing 26,000 teachers if the U.S. Senate rejects the FMAP funds. Nationally, 300,000 teachers would lose their jobs, she added.

"There would be painful decisions to lay off teachers and have larger class sizes," Ms. Boxer said. "There would also be cuts in emergency medical, firefighting and other important personnel. Services for the elderly and disabled who use Medicaid will be hurt."

Today's vote in the Senate is called "cloture" and is procedural, but it's very important. It will take at least 60 senators to vote to cut off debate by Republicans that is holding up an actual vote on the bill. Ms. Boxer said she is "optimistic" the 60 votes will be there but wasn't absolutely sure.

Mr. Rendell had originally estimated that 20,000 people in Pennsylvania would be laid off without the FMAP money, but he has revised that number down to 12,500 after talking to state agencies and county officials.

Nationally, the bill before the Senate provides $16 billion in additional Medicaid funds for numerous states, plus another $10 billion in education funds. Pennsylvania is to get $378 million under the education portion of the bill.

Originally, Pennsylvania hoped to get $850 million in additional FMAP money, but now that estimate has been trimmed to about $600 million. The $16 billion now allocated for FMAP is revised downward from the bill's original version, which had provided $23 billion nationwide.

Top Senate Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, oppose the bill because it would extend federal stimulus programs that they deem ineffective and because it would include a tax increase on corporations that operate overseas.

Democrats have been trying to entice GOP moderates including Maine Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe into backing the bill, and the outcome of today's vote remains uncertain.

Even if Congress approves the slimmed-down FMAP bill, some layoffs will probably still be needed because the state will be getting $250 million less than it had been counting on.

If the Senate fails today to approve the procedural move to end debate, the additional FMAP money could be dead. Mr. Rendell said he would meet soon with General Assembly leaders to readjust the state budget and put money aside into "budgetary reserve," which would mean considerable layoffs and cuts in social services money for counties.

If the Senate approves the move to cut off debate, there still must be another Senate vote on the actual bill. If it's approved at that point, the bill moves to the U.S. House, which won't vote until September.

Washington correspondent Daniel Malloy writes the "Pittsburgh On The Potomac" blog exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.