Well, the Senate does provide for a Constitutionally-protected rainy day fund and that is a big deal.
Other than that, however, it's not much better than the House version.
Eventually, as the AP reports, there will probably be agreement on the rainy day fund.
Senate Democrats on Wednesday offered a new two-year state budget plan, and House Speaker Frank Chopp said the House likely would agree to a "rainy day" reserve account badly wanted by the governor and Senate.
The spending stays high.
The Senate budget plan generally tracks with plans from the governor and the House, but proposes the highest level of savings suggested so far this session.
Minority Republicans in both chambers saw some improvement over the House plan but said Democratic legislators and the governor still want to spend too heavily and save too little.
Business groups, including AWB, sent a letter to senators yesterday, urging more budget restraint.
Other budget stories in The News Tribune, Spokesman-Review (witha nice quip in Richard Roesler's S-R blog), and the Olympian.
