A Quiet First Morning: Budget Negotiators Get to Work

The Senate and the House budget proposals differ in many ways, specifically in how the state should secure revenue to cover government services.

For example, the Senate has endorsed expanded gambling, the House backs an estate and capital gains tax.

In the run up to the committee of conference state house observers have wondered whether the House and Senate are too far apart to find much common ground.

People have also wondered if House Finance Chair Marjorie Smith and Senate Finance Chair Lou D’Allesandro can get along.

At the start of the meeting Representative Smith vowed to avoid any fireworks.

TAPE: if you have come here to see a war, to see hostility, to see uncivil behavior I would suggest you are wasting your time and you go to a movie or turn to one of those fake reality shows. Here, you will only see reasonable people struggling to carry out our responsibilities to citizens of our state.

In their first day, lawmakers approved a number of items, most notably a provision to provide local communities 87 million dollars in school building aid.

For NHPR News, I’m DG.