HARRISBURG (AP) - Gov. Tom Wolf attacked the Legislature's Republican majority leaders on Tuesday as "the only thing standing between us and a real budget" as he vetoed the GOP's short-term spending plan, ensuring Pennsylvania state government will begin a fourth month locked in a stalemate.

The first-term Democrat defended his veto as a choice between a sound, long-term fiscal path and a series of flawed, Washington, D.C.-style short-term fixes that neglect schools and deepen a deficit. The stoppage of state aid has resulted in layoffs and millions in borrowing costs as school districts, counties and nonprofit social service organizations try to scrape by.

Rep. Doyle Heffley, R-Carbon, said this afternoon, "I'm very disappointed with Gov. Wolf's veto. This was our third attempt to provide funding to school districts, veterans, afterschool programs, and folks with disabilities. The emergency funding bill vetoed by Wolf would be paying for services that have already been provided. We can continue this age-old debate over whether to raise taxes or not, but we have an obligation to pay for these services while that debate continues.

"It was heartless of the governor to veto this bill. He said he wants to keep the pressure up… Pressure on whom? On children in foster care? On our veterans? Gov. Wolf is unwilling to compromise and Pennsylvanians are suffering. It is simply unacceptable," Heffley said.

Sen. David G. Argall (R-Schuylkill/Berks) added, "Today's veto by the governor is another blow to local school districts, social service agencies and nonprofit organizations. Specifically, the emergency funding package would have provided $88.6 million in funding for school districts in the 29th Senatorial District. The voters in the last election voted for a divided government; not a dysfunctional government. I suggest we look at issues where there is agreement that the state needs to act, including school property tax reform, as a starting point."

Tamaqua School District would have received $3.7 million under the measure. Without that money, the district should be able to operate through March, Argall said.

Panther Valley, slated to receive $3.8 million, will be able to operate through December, according to Argall.

"I think the only thing standing between us and a real budget are Republican leaders," Wolf told Pittsburgh radio station KDKA-AM. "There are many Republican members who don't want to have Washington be imported into Harrisburg. They want us to get a real budget, they want us to pay our bills, and they want to invest in the things we have to invest in."

Wolf characterized the stalemate as a contest over "whether we want to govern ourselves or not" and warned that he "cannot concede to people who just want to blow things up."

Wolf had warned Republicans for much of September that he would veto their short-term spending measure unless they had reached a broader agreement with him on a spending plan for the fiscal year that began July 1. It passed without a single Democratic lawmaker supporting it and arrived on Wolf's desk Monday night.

In his veto message to lawmakers, Wolf wrote that "the citizens of Pennsylvania want more than half-measures, and they deserve better than the status quo."

Top Senate Republicans said they were deeply troubled by Wolf's veto of the $11 billion, four-month package that also would have released billions in federal dollars. They accused him of holding schools and social services hostage for leverage in budget talks.

"This does not have to happen - the money is there and our state hasn't stopped collecting taxes," Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman and Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati said in a statement. "We are simply attempting to end unnecessary hardship while efforts to enact a full budget continue."

Face-to-face talks between Wolf and top Republican lawmakers were expected to continue Wednesday.

On Friday, Republican leaders said for the first time that they would allow a floor vote on a budget package that includes an income or sales tax increase, but it will be up to Democrats to secure enough support to pass it.

Wolf has sought a multibillion-dollar tax increase that he says is necessary to wipe out the GOP's funding cuts for schools and human services enacted under his Republican predecessor, Tom Corbett, and to eliminate a long-term budget deficit. He also wants measures to cut residential school property taxes and impose a severance tax on the natural gas industry similar to one imposed by other major gas-producing states.

Republicans shot back that Wolf has yet to recognize that most Pennsylvanians cannot afford his tax proposal, and Corman said that a major sticking point was Wolf's refusal to back off an increase in the state personal income tax.

"Once he does, I believe a budget can be worked out in fairly quick fashion," Corman said during floor comments Tuesday evening.

Corman did not, however, say which tax increase Republicans might ultimately support to placate Wolf, and Republican leaders have not publicly committed to any sort of tax increase. Instead, they have pressed Wolf to overhaul benefits in Pennsylvania's two big public employee pension systems and to privatize the state-controlled wine and liquor store system.

Wolf insists he offered "historic" compromise proposals on both pension benefits and the wine and liquor store system earlier this month. But Republicans have criticized both proposals as not far-reaching enough.

"I'm willing to compromise," Wolf said Tuesday. "I understand we have divided government. What I don't understand is people who don't want to govern at all."