Grrrrrr
Your humble correspondent is in a foul mood this morning afternoon, so you'll forgive me if this post is a bit snippy. Story ideas for the paper have been crashing left and right all week, and today isn't looking up.
To boot, it appears more and more likely the General Assembly is going to miss the June 30 deadline for having a new budget in place. Off the record, folks are pretty definitive that the differences between the House and Senate budget are too numerous to bridge by then. (It's not that I don't love geeking out on the budget, but there are other fun things to write about in state government.)
On the record, the statements are getting pretty vague. Here's what Sen. Linda Garrou had to say on the Senate floor a few minutes ago: "It is my hope that we'll finish the budget sooner rather than later."
And she's one of the ones in charge of the budget process.
Meanwhile, the Senate has begun moving the continuing resolution sent over by the House through it's machinery. As explained by Sen. David Hoyle: "We need to pass a continuing resolution so we can keep the lights running and the prisoners locked up."
The continuing resolution keeps some key taxes in place, allows the state's bills to continue to get paid and gives the General Assembly more time to deliberate. The question now becomes how much more time.
My guess is we'll be sweating with the oldies down at the legislature well into July.
Meanwhile, Gov. Mike Easley called a last minute news conference that, for my readers, wasn't worth the mileage I'm going to have to write up because I went to it. If you're interested in North Carolina school districts (none of them in Guilford, Rockingham, Randolph, Davidson or Alamance) getting funding for life sciences-themed high schools click here for the news release. (If we have any Winston-Salem folks tuning in, this might interest you.)
Gripe, gripe, gripe. I know. I could actually be working for a living. So I'm off for an iced tea and an attitude adjustment. See you back here in a bit.
Comments (2)
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Think they'll cut off their per diem for failing to make their deadline? Or just keep collecting 'til the snow flies?
Posted on June 23, 2005 4:13 PM
If they're still here when the snow flies my mood is going to go from foul to worse.
I think if the budget process goes much past July 15, you're going to start hearing the cries to cut the per diem, but I know if they'll go anywhere. From what I hear, people are hoping that even if they miss July 1 they might make July 10, which wouldn't be too bad.
The fear, of course, is that putting one CR in place sends us down the path of the dark side. Passing one CR makes passing a second easier, etc and etc...
Posted on June 23, 2005 4:25 PM