If the state budget were a tennis match, the ball would be sitting in the court of Tennessee’s House Democrats. It seems the minority party is almost ready to announce its proposal.
House Democrats have spent two days going over a new version of a state budget, an answer to the proposal that Senate Republicans served up last week.
After two days of private caucus meetings, they seem to have agreed on a budget that restores a 2 percent bonus for state employees. They’re calling it a “recession stipend.”
They’re also ready to put some money back into programs that were whittled away in the GOP proposal.
But House Minority Leader Mike Turner says it’s not a strictly partisan budget.
“There’s Republicans over there who do not want to cut farm enhancements, that do not want to cut the fundings to the DAs, which affects crime. I think there’s people out there who want to try to put things in the budget to improve jobs.”
What the Democrats haven’t done is make a public announcement of their intentions.
Without taking action on their version of the budget, a floor vote is likely deferred until the middle of next week.
House Democratic leaders say they’ll announce their intentions at a news conference Thursday, after the last House floor session of the week.
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