HARRISBURG — A partisan budget dispute widened Thursday as a Senate panel used its rarely exercised subpoena power in an attempt to force Gov. Ed Rendell's administration to explain its government shutdown policy that would result in the closing of the state's slot-machine casinos.

Meanwhile, the casinos were dragged deeper into the budget dispute between the Democratic governor and the Republican-controlled Senate, as GOP members of the Community, Economic & Recreational Development Committee questioned state gambling regulators and a top casino executive about the impact of closing the five casinos now in operation.

"I'm here just trying to run a business," said an exhausted-sounding Ted Arneault, the president and CEO of MTR Gaming Group Inc., which owns Presque Isle Downs in Erie.

Late Thursday, the fifth day without a state budget, top legislators ended several hours of meetings without any agreements and said talks would reconvene this morning

The subpoenas, issued after a party-line vote by the committee, were the first by the Senate since 1994. Democratic senators objected, contending that the subpoena vote was not advertised 24 hours in advance as required by the state's open meetings law.

Rendell said administration attorneys were reviewing whether the two officials who declined the committee's invitation to testify — Secretary of Administration Joseph Martz and Revenue Secretary Tom Wolf — must comply with the subpoenas.

At a hastily called Capitol news conference, the governor likened the committee hearing and subpoenas to a diversion from the state's most important business and sought to put the spotlight back on the Legislature.

The fiscal year began Sunday without a new state budget in place, meaning that the government loses its authority to spend money on services it deems to be not critical to Pennsylvanians' health, safety or welfare.

If no budget agreement is reached by Sunday night, more than 24,000 "nonessential" state workers will be furloughed without pay Monday, including Revenue Department workers who man the central control computer that monitors cash flow through each slot machine and ensures the state receives its portion.

Rendell maintains that means casinos must shut down Monday.