The State Senate has passed their version of the 2007 supplemental budget by a vote of 50 to 0. Andre Walker reports that the two bodies are now meeting in conference with Burkhalter, Harbin and Keen representing the House and Hill, Johnson and Williams representing the Senate.

[UPDATE] Andre is actually at the Capitol sitting in on the conference. He is updating regularly.

They are breaking right now, but they’ll be back at 8pm. You can watch the conference online here.

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State of Georgia
Office of the Lieutenant Governor

For Immediate Release
Contact: Jaillene Hunter
Jaillene.Hunter@ltgov.ga.gov
404-656-5030
April 10, 2007

Lt. Governor Casey Cagle Calls On House to Pass FY2008 Budget By Thursday

(Atlanta, GA) – Lt. Governor Casey Cagle today called on the Georgia House of Representatives leadership to release its hold on the FY2008 budget and pass it by Thursday, April 12th. Cagle’s request follows a statement from the House that it will not agree to stand in recess for budget work, ensuring the legislature will adjourn its 40 day session on Friday, April 20th.

“It is now day 34 of the 40 day legislative session, and the Senate still has not received the FY2008 budget, which represents the most important constitutional task we have as a legislature. Given that the House leadership has publicly stated they will not agree to stand in recess to work on the budget, the reality is that if we do not receive the FY2008 budget by this Thursday, the 36th day, there will not be enough time left to act on it prior to the conclusion of this legislative session.

“Today, the Senate will vote on our version of the FY2007 supplemental budget. We stand ready to begin meeting in conference with the House as soon as this afternoon. We also call on the House leadership to pass the FY2008 budget by Thursday, so that we are not forced to return in special session in order to pass a budget.

“I encourage the House leadership to choose the responsible course of action, and move expeditiously. The Senate has moved the FY2007 supplemental budget without wasting a single day, and we stand ready to do the same with the FY2008 budget as soon as we receive it from the House.”

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Speaker Glenn Richardson, who has no shame in defending pork, has said the House will be out session no later than April 20th, according to Tom Crawford at Capitol Impact.

Erick Erickson has advice for the Senate and reminds us of one of the main reasons the 2006 elections were disastrous for the GOP:

Were I the Senate. I’d pass their budget, shove it into the hands of the House, and say “okay.” When the House acts recalcitrant and shoves back their budget, the Senate should shove back again. Keep putting it back in the House’s hands and mock them each. The Housies can’t take the mocking because they have an inferiority complex already at being called the Lower House.

The Senate will win the PR battle (though restoring the KIA funding would help them there) if they make the case that the House wants to go hog wild on a mid year supplemental needed to fund emergencies. Let the House then explain the emergencies they intend to fix with their pork.

The media got the meta-narrative from the 2006 election — the public is tired of pork. They’ll be predisposed to report anything beyond the necessaries as pork, which will put the media framed narrative much closer to the Senate than the House.

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Here is a list of my favorite pork projects from the State House version of the FY 2007 supplemental budget. Many of these projects should be funded solely by private entities and not by government, like $75,000 to Georgia Voyager magazine or $1 million for the Tour de Georgia.

- $24,064 for the relocation and continuation of the Anne Frank in the World exhibit and for the operational costs of the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust.
- $25,000 for operations to the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.
- $25,000 for operations to the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.
- $50,000 for the Civil War Heritage Trails project.
- $50,000 for the Silver Haired Legislature.
- $75,000 for Georgia Voyager magazine.
- $100,000 for Warner Robins Air Force Base museum.
- $125,000 for the Historic Chattahoochee Commission.
- $250,000 for programming and design development for replacements of existing interiors within common areas, electrical, HVAC and water intrusion within the Floyd Building.
- $300,000 for operations to the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame.
- $350,000 for Zoo Atlanta’s proposed new animal hospital.
- $429,390 for House member’s per diem.
- $1,000,000 for the Tour de Georgia.
- $5,000,000 for Civil War commemoration preparation and Resaca Battlefield development.
- $5,000,000 for the National Infantry Museum project.
- $5,734,000 for the demolition of the State Archives building.
- $19,000,000 for “Go Fish Georgia.”
- $46,550,000 for the West Point Development Authority for the Kia project development grant and purchase of a rail spur to complete site development.
- $50,000,000 for grant funds to acquire lands for the preservation and protection of Georgia’s critical and essential watersheds and wildlife habitats within the Governor’s Land Conservation program.

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The Big Pig Jig is an annual affair held each October in Vienna. It is a contest to see who can barbecue the best whole pig. The Big Pig site itself is an hodge-podge of unpainted wooden structures reminiscent of some third world housing area. The Big Pig Building itself is a small faded cinder block structure with the cartoon below painted on it saying: “Welcome to the Big Pig Jig”. The appropriation for $35,000 is to “improve the site”.
Apparently the Big Pig appropriation has been an annual funding dating back to its origins in 1992.

The Representative for Dooly County is Johnny Wilson Floyd - first elected in 1989 as a Democrat and recently “converted” as a Republican. Mr. Floyd is quite wealthy and is the Chairman of the Ameris-Cordele Bank, President & Owner of Floyd Timber Co. and President of Cordele Realty.

HT: Bill Kecskes for describing the site.

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According to the Political Insider, the National Taxpayers Union has jumped into the Georgia budget battle on the side of Casey Cagle and the State Senate:

“Many members of the Assembly spent years campaigning on the reduction or elimination of the supplemental budget.

“Unfortunately, some have allowed the trappings of office and the appeal of pork to change their minds.

“Our members, however, have not changed their minds and believe that this supplemental should not be used as an excuse to propagate wasteful spending.”

The spendthrifts in the House Republican leadership should be taking note. Republicans are not invincible in this state, despite what you may think, and if you cannot get in gear to cut spending and shrink the role of government in the lives individuals then it’s really only a matter of time before you wind up just like your national counterparts.

(Originally posted at Peach Pundit)

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Highlighting the pork from under the Gold Dome.

This is a work in progress. Please come back soon. 

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The AJC Political Insider had two posts today about the budget fight between the House and Senate. In the first one they open with:

Republicans are taking this state House-Senate budget fight to lengths we never saw under Democrats.

Participants in the state Capitol tussle are bringing in outsiders. They’re bringing in The Base.

Their second post (Taking a private fight public: Senate Republicans call in the fiscal hard-cores ) makes the same incorrect assumption: that it is Senate Republicans who are behind this grassroots up swell.

As the co-author of the RLC release (thanks for the help Jason) I can tell you that I only courtesy copied it to three officials before I sent it out. There was, and still is, a concern on my part that these efforts might backfire and put the Senate in an awkward position.

However I decided it was a calculated risk that we needed to take. I and many others are convinced that the main reason the GOP lost the Congress was the ridiculous spending of our brethren in Washington. What we as fiscal conservatives dubbed “the bridge to nowhere” turned out to be a bridge to the minority. If you want someone to blame for the problems funding our mission in Iraq, take it up with Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK). As Georgia Republicans we cannot allow the same fate to befall us here.

Americans for Prosperity and the Republican Liberty Caucus of Georgia both mobilized, not at the behest of the Senate leadership, but in response to their leadership. Lt. Governor Cagle is spending political capital defending the taxpayer and he and the rest of the Senate need to know that the base supports their efforts.

You can find the RLC Action alert here.

(originally posted at Peach Pundit)

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