HARRISBURG — Gov. Ed Rendell is convening a special session of the Legislature in early May to brainstorm ways to make up a $470 million deficit in the state's transportation budget.

The funding shortfall will severely hamper the ability of the state's Department of Transportation to proceed with road and bridge repairs across the state if legislators can't find extra sources of revenue.

The deficit exists because Rendell banked on that money coming from a proposal to toll Interstate 80, a proposal that was rejected by the federal government. With the plan scrapped, Rendell and state legislators now must find ways to come up with the much-needed revenue to fund transportation projects.

Several lawmakers have thrown around their own ideas already, including implementing a tax on gasoline, enacting a tax on natural gas being pumped out of the Marcellus shale formation or significantly raising the fee motorists pay to register their vehicles.

Local legislators agree an election year is no time to raise constituents' taxes. One local lawmaker, however, said he has the perfect plan to plug the transportation budget deficit.

State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-12th, has previously suggested cutting the state's spending on welfare to help fix other financial maladies like the annual budget deficit. The program is a prime target for Metcalfe, who said Rendell annually pumps more than $4 billion into the system.

That kind of spending is irresponsible, Metcalfe said, and could solve many financial woes if it were cut by a mere 10 percent.

"Reducing welfare by just 10 percent, anyone can look at their budget and find those kinds of reductions," he said. "As an individual, family or business that kind of cut is well within each. If we do that and direct to that money to other places, it could easily take care of the money missing as well as additional needs for the state."

Metcalfe, who's also currently campaigning for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor, said he opposes any measure that "reaches deeper into peoples' pockets," especially any new tax increases.

He also lambasted Rendell for banking on money he knew might not be there in relying on the I-80 toll project for transportation funding. He said he's aware the governor most likely won't take the welfare proposal seriously, but added any lawmaker with his constituents' interests in mind will listen to his plan.

"I think Rendell might not take it seriously but he's a lame duck governor anyway," Metcalfe said. "If the Legislature has any integrity it will take a look at that proposal very seriously."

State Rep. Dick Stevenson, R-8th, agreed with Metcalfe that Rendell's decision to rely on the I-80 tolling money was "short-sighted." He also commended the governor, however, for convening the special session to bring lawmakers together so every person can offer input on how to best solve the financial shortfall.

"We need to find some way to produce the dollars that will bring our infrastructure back to the point where everyone expects it to be," he said. "I think a lot of ideas will be put forward in the special session and I commended Rendell, but the solution will be very difficult to find."

Stevenson said every idea will be on the table. One he supports, he said, is asking mass transit in places like Pittsburgh and Philadelphia to take on a bigger portion of their own funding instead of asking Harrisburg for taxpayer-funded bailouts.

Regardless, he said, he's not sold on any one idea and said he's open to almost any proposal from fellow lawmakers. The only idea he's not in favor of, he said, is raising taxes in any way or tolling I-80.

Sean Yeakle, a representative with the Pennsylvania House Republican Policy Committee, said that group is holding hearings Monday and throughout next week to brainstorm their own ideas on fixing the problem.

He said many Republicans were taken aback when Rendell and Democrats passed the I-80 tolling measure, known as Act 44, when they knew there was a good possibility the law would be overturned.

He also said the hearings this week are designed to make sure the budget shortfall gets fixed quickly and that Republicans have a full slate of ideas going into Rendell's special session on May 4th.

"House Democrats passed Act 44 without public hearings and with little public notice," Yeakle said. "This series of hearings is part of House Republicans' commitment to ensuring that all proposals are given full public consideration."

The committee is expected to hear testimony from Department of Transportation Sec. Allen Biehler and Nick Grieshaber, the chief financial officer of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

State Sen. Mary Jo White, R-21st, said she in aware of the special session and intends on attending but added she doesn't know much about the transportation budget shortfall.

State Rep. Brian Ellis, R-11th and state Sen. Don White, R-41st, did not return calls for comment.