HARRISBURG — The latest proposal to avert state government furloughs — or at least delay them for one week — was floated Tuesday by Democrats in the state House.

In a mostly party-line vote, Democrats in a House committee advanced a bill to provide $20 million to pay a week's wages to the roughly 25,000 workers targeted for furloughs.

The Rendell administration announced Friday those workers will be kept off the job without pay as of July 1 if a budget is not in place.

Republican leaders said they objected to a separate element of the bill that would move $724 million out of the Rainy Day Fund and into the General Fund, putting into play a giant pot of money — but leaving the state without emergency savings — as budget talks grind on three weeks before the June 30 deadline.

House Appropriations Chairman Dwight Evans, D-Philadelphia, said the cash could be used to help state residents weather high gas prices, avoid mortgage problems and cope with other economic difficulties.

"It is a rainy day in Pennsylvania," he declared.

One Republican on the Appropriations Committee voted with the unanimous Democrats in sending the measure to the House floor.

House Minority Leader Sam Smith, R-Jefferson warned that Evans' proposal will trigger a spending free-for-all, and that expanding government programs with a one-time-only revenue source will require more taxes in future years. He also questioned the need for it.