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Speaker Ben Lujan (right, with his son, U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan) on the floor of the New Mexico House. (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
On Wednesday evening it became clear lawmakers didn’t have a budget deal, Speaker of the House Ben Lujan, D-Santa Fe said, while speaking to reporters after the close of the 2010 regular session. Democratic leaders say the difference between their budget and the Senate’s was narrowed to $50-$70 million dollars but there were still sticking points they couldn’t overcome.
”We were at the 1 yard line and we just couldn’t throw that final pass to make a touchdown” Lujan said.
According to House leaders, one of the main sticking points was with the Senate gross receipts taxes (GRT). The Senate was in favor of adding the tax to some foods while the House wanted to raise the GRT but not add it to food.
“For some reason the Senate didn’t feel that gross receipts was something they could take up,” Lujan said. House leaders also said that further cuts to the state budget, like those proposed by the Senate, would be too much for many programs to take.
Those hang ups are likely to follow lawmakers into the special session which will likely start next Wednesday. While House leaders say they are close on a deal, they don’t hide the fact that they still prefer their own budget solution.
“The Senate said they sent a good budget–ours was better,” said Rep. Luciano “Lucky” Varela, D-Santa Fe.
Leaders stressed that they will need at least some agreement to have a special session run smoothly,
“We have to come back with a plan we have a consensus on, so we don’t spend too much time here. The public wants us to do our work,” Varela said.
In the video below, House Democrats explain what happened to budget talks in this session and what they are looking for before they meet again next week.
Lujan said meetings will likely begin early next week so that hopefully they can have some agreement in place before the special session begins.
Although there had been some talk of an extraordinary session, Lujan said House leaders didn’t discuss it.
“Extraordinary sessions are dangerous because it completely opens up matters to anything the members want to do.”
