Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware) said, "We want to accommodate the governor's request as best we can," but added that no agreement had been reached on how to fund transportation needs.
"The challenge is not so much to have [legislators] come back to Harrisburg, but to have a bill that would get a majority of members to support it," Pileggi said. "To date, we don't have such a product. Once we're at that point, we're certainly ready to come back to Harrisburg."
On Tuesday, Rendell was in Pileggi's legislative district, standing 100 feet below the Crum Creek railroad bridge in Delaware County. He cited it as an example of worn-out bridges that need to be replaced. He later stopped along a rough patch of Street Road in Trevose, Bucks County, to highlight the 7,000 miles of Pennsylvania roads in "poor" condition.
Rendell said the legislature needed to raise money with new or higher taxes, and he called on lawmakers to find the "guts and courage to do the right thing." Rendell, a Democrat, also took a thinly veiled jab at the Republican candidate, Attorney General Tom Corbett, who has vowed not to raise taxes if chosen to replace Rendell as governor.
"If he were elected - and he's ahead in the polls - that would mean no increased funding for transportation for four years," Rendell said.
Rendell suggested creating an "excess profits tax" on oil companies to pay for the state's additional transit and highway needs. He said the seven major oil companies pay only about $70 million in taxes to Pennsylvania.
Rendell also said a 3.5-cent increase in the state's gasoline tax would raise $240 million, while boosting vehicle fees - to match inflation since they were last raised 13 years ago - would produce $327 million.
Pennsylvania's gas tax of 32.3 cents a gallon (including the franchise tax) is 13th-highest in the nation. The national average is 29.3 cents.
