Well that didn’t take long [1]:
A potential budget deal emerged Monday after the surprise resignation of a Democratic state senator.
The plan, as described by Senate Republicans involved in the negotiations, is for the Senate Finance Committee to meet Thursday morning. It will likely vote a budget deal – without Medicaid expansion included – to the Senate floor.
“If everybody’s pulling the same direction, we will then have a session,” said state Sen. John Watkins, R-Midlothian and a key negotiator on the state’s months-long budget and Medicaid expansion impasse.
There is still a very long way to go in all this, but one important thing to ponder is how Gov. McAuliffe and Senate Democrats were caught so flat-footed regarding Sen. Puckett’s resignation.
For a deal maker of McAuliffe’s reputation, recent developments have to sting.