Although talks between House and Senate budget conferees nearly crashed Friday as emotions flared during an early negotiating session, the co-chairmen of the committee said they believed a final agreement could be reached at a Saturday session.
“We’re hopeful it will be tomorrow. … We don’t anticipate that we won’t reach an agreement,” said Rep. Rick Rand, D-Bedford, who co-chairs the conference committee.
Sen. Bob Leeper, a Paducah independent and the other co-chair, said, “We’re moving forward. We all know we’ve got to get a budget out of here tomorrow.”
Rand and Leeper spoke after the conference meeting was adjourned about 9 p.m. Friday.
Their comments came after they huddled with top leaders of both chambers privately for more than an hour.
Negotiations, which began Wednesday, hit a low point just after noon Friday during debate over funding of cancer screenings and spouse abuse centers.
“The people of the commonwealth are watching, and we’re having a debate about women in the commonwealth and whether they’re going to have access to breast and ovarian cancer screenings. That’s just unconscionable,” said House Democratic Chair Sannie Overly of Paris.
Overly’s criticism centered on the Senate’s resistance to approving about $4 million for cancer screenings that the Senate’s majority Republicans have questioned because they say the Affordable Care Act is supposed to ensure everyone will have access to such screenings.
Leeper told Overly the debate was about more than cancer screenings. “We’re having a discussion about how we spend the taxpayers’ money. … Involved in that are a number of areas — education, children, preschool, cancer screening.”
Overly complained that the conference negotiations had bogged down over relatively tiny appropriations. “An example is the spouse abuse center that a member of my caucus and a member of your caucus both requested for Madison County, $100,000,” Overly said.
But Leeper said the Senate had decided to not fund any local projects unless the project had some statewide purpose.
House Speaker Pro Tem Larry Clark, D-Louisville, referred to the Senate’s position as “malarkey” and noted that the budget contains programs and projects for rural coal counties that he can support.
“But it’s a shame that one of our members wants to put a roof over the Center for Women and Families … and because that lady, Mary Lou Marzian, lives in the Highlands, we don’t want to do it for her,” Clark said. “… Now, do you want a budget or not?”
Leeper said the criticism was “absolutely unfair to say to me. … I’m just trying to be consistent and fair.”
At that point, the budget conference broke for lunch with plans to resume later Friday.
When conferees gathered again Friday afternoon the mood was more cordial. The open meeting went about four hours with no major decisions on the many differences between House and Senate versions of the bill.
Until late Friday night Stivers and Senate conferees said they were determined to reach a final agreement on Saturday so the budget bill could be voted on Monday by the House and Senate. But House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, had said for the past two days he expected negotiations would likely continue into Monday with a final vote not being taken until as late as Wednesday.
Rand said, “We’ve heard all the discussion and the back-and-forth over the last two or three days. At some point you have to say it’s time to make choices and decisions. And we’re at that point.”
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