Rep. Curt Schroder, R-155th Dist., the Republican chairman of the House Gaming Oversight Committee, said in a prepared statement Thursday that Gov. Ed Rendell and House Majority Leader Todd Eachus (D-Luzerne) have destroyed any credibility they may have had with state universities and the public after insisting that legislation authorizing table games in the Commonwealth had to pass before state universities could be funded.

"House Republicans had insisted that the money needed to fund the universities of Pittsburgh, Penn State, Temple and Lincoln was there all along and that the universities were being used as pawns in Rendell's and Eachus's determination to expand gambling in Pennsylvania," said Schroder. "Now the majority leader, who for weeks had been towing the governor's line, admits that the money is indeed there and that the governor should sign the legislation on his desk to release the funding.

"For weeks, the universities, students and their families have had to endure the possibility that substantial tuition increases would be necessary if the state's appropriation did not come through. Students have had to entertain the possibility that they might not be able to afford to return to college for the spring semester. It was a cruel and unnecessary exercise - all to satisfy the gambling ambitions of Rendell and Eachus," Schroder said.

At a Harrisburg press conference earlier in the day, Rendell said he will sign legislation that the House passed earlier this week, releasing $700 million for the universities. The House did not take up table games legislation, pushing a possible vote on the issue until early 2010.