After exactly an hour of debate, the Senate voted 27-17 to adopt the state budget.
The budget still needs one more vote in the chamber.
Democrats said the budget makes dramatic cuts but lessens the impact on education and other state services by raising about a $1 billion in new revenue.
"Think about the things we would have had to do if we did not have the additional revenue," said Sen. Tony Rand, a Fayetteville Democrat and the Senate majority leader. "These things are wrenching in their application and what they do to a society."
The few Republicans who spoke said the budget's priorities are not aligned with what Democrats are saying, and that the tax increases are not justified if the state is still cutting education.
"If you're going to raise taxes that much, you need to use it to pay for education," said Phil Berger, an Eden Republican and the party's leader in the Senate. "It's a problem of priorities. You're cutting from education and still taxing that much, and that's not right."
Comments
Re: Senate approves budget
August 4, 2009 - 5:28pm — starcoconstWhy do Republicans bother talking? The majority never listens and goes ahead and does what it wants to. When was the last time a Republican sponsored bill made it out of a Senate Committee and to the floor for a vote. Probably not ever. There was no Republican input asked for on the budget and they would not have been listened to regardless. Remember that next year on election day or stop complaining.