HARRISBURG — A Republican budget proposal was defeated Thursday in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives after about six hours of debate that gave no sign of an imminent compromise.

The 103-95 vote was not a surprise — Democrats control the chamber by five seats and two Republicans are serving in Iraq. The result suggested the Democrats' own plan probably will pass when it is called up today.

The tenor of the debate also was nothing new, with Republicans emphasizing how their $27.3 billion proposal was balanced without imposing new or expanded taxes, while Democrats warned of dire consequences if its across-the-board cuts were to become reality.

"It hurts too much," said Rep. Josh Shapiro, D-Montgomery. "It does not reflect the priorities that I believe state government ought to stand for. It does not look out for the least, the last and the lost."

Republicans said many Pennsylvanians were struggling to make household ends meet, and their economic pain would be exacerbated if they had to pay the additional taxes that Gov. Ed Rendell and his Democratic allies want to impose.

"I understand everybody's desire for funding for veterans, funding for human services, and all that's great," said Rep. Scott Boyd, R-Lancaster. "I've just been looking at everybody — where you gonna get the money?"

Democrats said the Republican plan would indirectly result in local tax increases, as counties and schools would have to scramble to make up the difference.

"We cannot just arbitrarily slash funding for programs that are not only critical to our citizens, but vital to the long-term economic health of our state," said Rep. Phyllis Mundy, D-Luzerne.

Rep. Kate Harper, R-Montgomery, made an appeal for moderate Democrats to join her in voting for the Republican proposal, which came in the form of an amendment offered by Rep. Mario Civera of Delaware County, the ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee.

"What I want to remind my moderate, thoughtful colleagues is there is no easy way out of this mess," Harper said. "And if we vote down the Civera amendment, the choice will be to vote a budget that cannot balance without increased taxes."

The only person to cross party lines was Rep. Dennis O'Brien of Philadelphia, the Republican who spent the 2007-08 session as House speaker thanks mostly to support from Democrats.

The $29.1 billion Democratic bill preserves an increase in K-12 education funding that Rendell wants, along with a host of other state government programs threatened by the GOP budget ax.

The Democratic plan draws heavily from the state's rainy day contingency fund and from a surplus in an account used to pay doctors' malpractice premiums. But it leaves unresolved how to fund $1.3 billion for the State System of Higher Education, community colleges, student loans and Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster.

Pennsylvania's ability to spend money or pay its workers has been severely curtailed since it ended its fiscal year June 30 without a budget in place. State workers who get paid today will collect partial paychecks, but in two weeks their pay will be withheld entirely until there is a deal.

Whatever passes the House will be sent to the Republican-controlled Senate, which passed an austerity budget in early May that all sides agree does not achieve the balance required by the state constitution. Senate Republicans have repeatedly said they are determined to block any broad-based tax increase.

The budget standoff is largely the result of a recession-fueled falloff in state government revenues that has left budget negotiators with a multibillion-dollar gap to fill for the year that just ended and a similar shortfall for the current fiscal year.