House Speaker Joe Hackney expects the House will stick together on its budget.
In a phone interview this afternoon, he said he expects his Democratic colleagues to vote to shoot down the Senate budget proposal, which is scheduled for a vote tonight, Dan Kane reports.
House Republicans hoped to pick off a few Democrats to support the Senate's version of the $20 billion budget, which repeals two temporary taxes.
But Hackney said that he has not heard of a single House Democrat who supports the Senate budget, which passed with heavy support from Senate Republicans last week. He said talk that House Republicans might get roughly 10 Democrats to join them was just that — talk.
"It's mostly, as far as I can tell, a bunch of posturing by Republicans and speculation without foundation," Hackney said.
More after the jump.
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House Republicans want to pass the Senate budget because it ends two temporary tax increases first passed in 2001. The budget proposals by the House and Gov. Mike Easley keep them going another two years. For the upcoming fiscal year, the taxes provide another $300 million in revenue.
The Senate budget also caps the gas tax at 29.9 cents per gallon and has tougher provisions to combat Medicaid fraud. But the House budget includes $100 million in Medicaid relief for counties, which helps them with their property taxes, and includes an earned income tax credit for the working poor.
Hackney said that even some Senate Democrats say the House should vote thumbs down on the Senate budget.
"The folks in the Senate know that it wasn’t intended as a final product," said Hackney, an Orange County Democrat.
The General Assembly is supposed to have a budget in place by July 1.
