Temperatures rising in budget talks?

Another round of budget talks have ended without agreement on how much the state should spend, and some of the negotiators are starting to get testy about the time they'll need to pass whatever is agreed to.

"I would anticipate that if we do not have a revenue figure in the next 24 hours, the prospects of getting legislation and budget done by June 30 start to fade a bit," Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati told reporters as he walked back to his office. "We need a spend number soon."

Does he believes that they'll bridge the gap on Wednesday?

"That would be my hope," he said. "Because writing the fiscal code, the tax code, the education code, the general appropriations and all the other legislation is going to require days of work by staff."

House Appropriations Chairman Bill Adolph also used the word "hope" when asked whether a spending figure can be announced tomorrow.

"I was optimistic that we would get a spending number this afternoon," Adolph said. "Hopefully we'll get it tomorrow at 9 o'clock. I'm not quite as optimistic now as I was this morning."

The governor's spokesman, Kevin Harley, brushed off the concerns from lawmakers about the dwindling calendar days: "They should be able to get all of that done. They can work everyday, including Saturday and Sunday if they need to."

Those remarks came after more than two hours in the governor's office suite, where top Republican lawmakers were meeting with the Corbett administration for the second time today.

Gov. Tom Corbett was not present at this afternoon's meeting, though Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley and several top aides were spotted entering the closed-door affair.

Scarnati said negotiators continued "to grind through the issues of legislation," but that in general, there was "not much different to report from earlier today." Asked if there was anything they had reached agreement on, he replied: "There's not a [expletive] thing we agreed upon."

After this morning's meeting, the governor was asked what the biggest obstacle was, to which replied: "The number."

The governor introduced a $27.14 billion budget in February, and the Senate approved a $27.65 billion spending plan last month. Since then, the House and Senate have privately agreed on a compromise plan, which they've offered to the administration.

"We've given them a number," said Corbett, referencing his counter-offer to that House-Senate plan. "Our numbers don't match yet. That's what we're still working on."