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Associated Press
5 days ago
- Business
- Associated Press
Mississippi lawmakers approve $7 billion budget in special session marred by political fighting
Mississippi lawmakers on Thursday finally passed a $7.1 billion state budget to fund government agencies, but it wasn't a master class in legislative statesmanship. Senators complained about their House counterparts, House members fought bitterly among themselves about budget details and lawmakers knowingly passed a bill that conflicts with federal Medicaid regulations. The public display of bickering took place during a special legislative session because lawmakers couldn't agree on a budget during their regular session earlier this year, which was also mired in Republican infighting. Gov. Tate Reeves called them back to Jackson this week to pass a budget before the new fiscal year begins July 1. 'Yes — this should have been completed in regular session,' Reeves wrote on social media. 'But once clear that was no longer an option, the two sides worked diligently to find an agreement that met my specific criteria and passed it while minimizing costs of a Special Session.' The Senate wrapped up its work Thursday evening, after debating whether it should approve the state Department of Health's budget, after lawmakers realized it contained a provision that could jeopardize $1.2 billion in federal Medicaid money for Mississippi. The 52-member chamber approved the budget and said they had a guarantee that Reeves would veto the provision out of the agency's budget. Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann thanked the senators for their work, but he accused House leaders of working in bad faith by renegging on some prior budget agreements and by filing bills that were outside Reeves' parameters for the special session. 'There were three more significant bills that came from the House, which were not on the governor's call and did not reflect the agreement of the House, the governor and the Senate,' Hosemann said. Senate Democrats opposed almost all of the budget bills in the special session because they complained they did not receive any advance drafts of the bills ahead of the session. Hosemann told Mississippi Today that he shared a budget summary with all senators on Sunday and encouraged them to ask questions about the budget to Senate leaders ahead of the special session. Senate Minority Leader Derrick Simmons, a Democrat from Greenville, attempted to replace agency funds frozen by the federal government with state funds, but Republican senators used procedural tactics to defeat the measures. The House finished its work on the budget in the early hours of Thursday morning after working all Wednesday night to approve, debate, and question the spending bills. House leaders struck a more conciliatory tone with Democratic members late Wednesday, after the two factions, earlier in the day, butted heads over the budget process and House Speaker Jason White threatening to remove a member from the chamber. Like their Senate colleagues, House Democrats grew frustrated that they were largely kept in the dark about the specifics of the budget and used a constitutional provision to force the reading aloud of lengthy budget bills. Irate at the filibuster tactic, White, a Republican from West, and his leadership team refused to answer any questions from Democrats if they continued to request that bills be read. White posted on social media that he shared a digital copy of a budget summary with House members on Tuesday and placed a physical copy of the summary on their desks on Wednesday. 'When I was elected Speaker, I stated my goal was to bring more order and timeliness to the budget chaos while allowing all House members time to read and review the spending bills before they are asked to vote on them,' White said. 'While we may not have perfected that process yet, as Speaker, I will maintain the goal of transparency and working in an orderly fashion.' It appeared the House would continue to bicker over the budget after Republicans refused to allow members from both parties to ask questions in a House Appropriations Committee meeting, prompting further outrage from Democrats. 'So, we're not allowed to debate any piece of legislation in this process, is that correct?' Democratic Rep. John Hines of Greenville asked. 'That's correct,' House Appropriations Committee Chairman John Read, R-Gautier, responded. Read and other appropriations leaders cited the Democrats' earlier filibuster tactics as the reason for not allowing them to ask questions. But even some Republicans complained that the committee moved too fast for them to understand what was being proposed. Rep. Becky Currie, a Republican from Brookhaven, during the committee meeting, said she didn't understand an explanation of an amendment to the budget for the State Auditor's Office. Rep. Sam Mims V, a Republican from McComb, declined to repeat his explanation of the amendment and continued to speed through the budget. The committee meeting showcased how, in recent years, rank-and-file lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, have complained they aren't provided budget details in time to vet and debate the bills and how individual members have virtually no input in the budget process. But longtime lawmakers said the special session this week was one of the worst budget-making cycles they've seen in roughly a decade. 'I understand that we're in the minority, and Republicans are in a supermajority, but there's just no dialogue taking place,' Rep. Bryant Clark, a Democrat from Pickens, said. 'This is the straw that broke the camel's back.' Despite the chaos from the committee meeting, Democrats on the House floor stopped asking for bills to be read Wednesday night into Thursday morning, and Republicans chose to answer their questions. The most substantive debate on the House floor occurred over the Mississippi Development Authority's budget, the agency responsible for economic development. Rep. Robert Johnson III, the Democratic leader, offered four amendments to the agency's budget, but the GOP majority voted against them mostly along partisan lines. Johnson, a Democrat from Natchez, tried to amend the legislation to reduce the amount of money counties are required to contribute to economic development projects in areas with extremely high poverty rates or failing school districts. Rep. Karl Oliver, a Republican from Winona who leads an appropriations committee, opposed the amendments because he said he did not want the new proposals to jeopardize earlier agreements he reached with Senate leaders. Most agencies in the proposed budget will see flat funding with no major increases or decreases. But many agencies will see a drop-off starting July of millions of dollars in 'one-time' money, either federal pandemic funds that are drying up or state cash for projects that lawmakers are withholding this year. Under the budget agreement, lawmakers are planning to leave about $1 billion unencumbered. Some legislative leaders say this is prudent, given federal cuts and uncertainty in Washington. Others question whether state agencies will suffer, and contractors go unpaid on already started projects, from not having capital expense money allocated in the coming year. ___ This story was originally published by Mississippi Today and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
USA Today
17-04-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Lt. governor: Mississippi needs to plan for lean budget as President Trump 'rights the ship'
Lt. governor: Mississippi needs to plan for lean budget as President Trump 'rights the ship' Show Caption Hide Caption MS Senate announces tax plan with cuts to grocery, income taxes Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann announces the Senate's tax plan at the Mississippi State Capitol in Jackson, Miss., on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. Mississippians will have to tighten their belts for a while as President Donald Trump tries to "right the ship" and get government spending under control, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said in a recent interview with the Hattiesburg American. "Our president is doing what we asked him to do," Hosemann said. "We needed to clean house and I'm proud of him doing that." "We collect about $7 billion to run the state," Hosemann said. "The federal government gives us about $14 billion." While Hosemann said he supports the progress made on reducing government spending, the cuts will affect Mississippi. Already, the state has seen roughly $400 million in federal dollars cut or soon to be cut. The funds are frozen, Hosemann said, so the money isn't exactly gone, but there is no telling when — or even if — the state will ever see that money. "We need to plan like this money won't be there," Hoseman said. Budget challenges The Mississippi Department of Education lost roughly $137 million in federal funds that it had been allocated for the year. Another $120 million was cut from the state's mental health system, with $7 million more in cuts coming. The state Department of Health also is expecting to see roughly $100 million in cuts, Hosemann said. "I'm hopeful we will get some of that money back, but we can't depend on it," Hosemann said. He said he doesn't think the federal government is done making cuts, so the state could lose even more funding when all is said and done. So far, agencies like Child Protective Services and the Department of Marine Resources haven't yet had to contend with cuts. "We need to budget as if that money is not coming back," Hosemann said. Hosemann said he is confident Mississippi can adjust to a leaner budget and will have extra money to appropriate if any or all of the federally withheld funds are restored. "I'm planning on being very close on our budget this to make sure that we plan for this contingency," he said. "I hope it doesn't happen, but realistically for them to right the ship in Washington, they are going to have to cut back." Hosemann said with two-thirds of the state's budget coming from the federal government, it is "inevitable" that the state will have to work with less money than it has grown accustomed to. "There's no way we'll get the same amount of money that we've been getting," Hosemann said. Impact on Mississippi education Hosemann said he has met with University of Southern Mississippi President Joe Paul to talk about how the Legislature can help the university meet its financial needs. "That's a priority for me," Hosemann said. "The university is the mainstay of the town. It's done really, really well and it's brought young people to town." Hosemann said by providing opportunities for more people to come to Hattiesburg also means more people will be spending money in the Hub City, including the downtown area with its many restaurants and shops. The lieutenant governor said the state's K-12 schools also are getting support from the Legislature, including teacher pay raises and building needs. "Our emphasis is on education," he said. "We think that's a long-term solution for workforce development and everything else." 'Detrimental' to school kids: Mississippi education department set to lose $137M in COVID funds Economic development, infrastructure Work on an industrial site on U.S. 11 south of Hattiesburg is still moving forward, Hosemann added, and the Legislature it doing what it can to bring it to completion so more businesses can move in. He also praised Hattiesburg Mayor Toby Barker's efforts to prepare the city for more growth opportunities that legislators can get behind, including the infrastructure needs that will allow Jones Co. to move to Hattiesburg, and bringing a $50 million investment from the company, and the Hall Avenue overpasses that will create better traffic flow in the downtown area and allow motorists to avoid being trapped by stopped trains. "He's doing a really good job," Hosemann said. "Every year he has an ask, and every year we try to answer it." Mississippi Legislature: Session adjourns without budget. How much would special session cost? Poorest affected: Trump cuts to HHS layoff all workers for US program that helps Mississippi pay light bills Tax cuts and other legislative wins and losses One of the biggest changes for Mississippi is the tax on food. The rate was lowered to 5% from 7%, to enable Mississippians to stretch their food budgets a little farther. Motorists, on the other hand, will be paying more at the pumps with an additional 3 cents per gallon of gasoline to help pay for road maintenance. The additional gasoline tax is expected to last for three years. The state also lowered the income tax to 3% over the next four years, making it one of the lowest in the country. "Probably the biggest thing we did this year was to try to have an alternative for PERS (the state employee retirement system)," Hosemann said. The program is $25 billion short, so an alternative was needed. New employees will still be offered a retirement plan, but it will be a 401K program like many companies offer. The PERS program also was discontinued for state lawmakers and highly-compensated state employees. The changes will give the state a little breathing room to get the current retirement plan back on track and fully funded over time. "We are in a big hole and we need to stop digging," Hosemann said. Redistricting challenge Hosemann said he believes Mississippi's special election for the latest redistricting plan will go ahead as planned in the fall, even with a challenge pending in federal court. "First of all, I don't think the court ought to be ordering the Legislature how to do their work," he said. "I opposed the clearing. I think that is out of bounds." A hearing was held April 8 in federal court to discuss the challenges to two of the three new districts on the plan, with both sides arguing whether the districts would give Black voters a fair opportunity to elect someone they believed would represent them. The Pine Belt Senate district was not challenged in the lawsuit, but a Senate district in DeSoto County and a House district in Chickasaw County were. Mississippi elections: Federal court rules on redistricting, sends state back to drawing board Redistricting update: New Mississippi House, Senate districts not yet approved by federal court panel In a hearing on April 16, the federal judges ordered the DeSoto County districting plan to be revised again, within seven days. The Chickasaw County district lines will stand, the judges said. "The Senate proposed a plan for the Pine Belt, which includes Sen. (Joey) Fillingane in a new district and Sen. (Chris) Johnson in a new district. Sen. (John) Polk is not going to seek reelection, so we made the new district run from out in Lamar County back to downtown Hattiesburg," he said. Hosemann said the new districts needed to be a majority-minority, meaning more than 50% of the districts' residents need to be people of color, which is what the Legislature did, so there should be no reason for the challenge. "I believe that the court will decide that the redistricting, as proposed by the Senate, will stand," he said. DOGE cuts: It's National Library Week. The Mississippi Library Association isn't celebrating See how it affects state: DOGE pulls federal funding for Mississippi Humanities Council. Lici Beveridge is a reporter for the Hattiesburg American and Clarion Ledger. Contact her at lbeveridge@ Follow her on X @licibev or Facebook at Clarion Ledger reporter Grant McLaughlin contributed to this report.
Associated Press
03-04-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Mississippi Legislature ends 2025 session without setting a budget over GOP infighting
The Mississippi House on Wednesday voted to end what had become a futile legislative session without passing a budget to fund state government, for the first time in 16 years. The Senate is expected to do the same on Thursday. The decision to leave the Capitol without funding government services means Gov. Tate Reeves would have to call legislators into a special session before government funding runs out on June 30 to avoid a shutdown. The governor could, based on previous legal rulings and opinions, run some agencies at least temporarily but many would be shuttered without a state budget in place. House Speaker Jason White and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, both Republicans, blamed each other for failing to come to the negotiating table on ironing out a final $7 billion state budget. 'They have ignored the deadlines, failed to show up repeatedly, taken their marbles home at least twice, and given us conflicting statements every other time,' Hosemann said of the House. White, however, said he told Hosemann in early January that the House would not craft a 'hurried budget' late in the session. Reeves, who previously helped write the state budget when he served two terms as lieutenant governor, has not said anything publicly about the Legislature's failure to adopt a budget and has not indicated when he might force them back in a special session. The 2025 session has been characterized by bitter GOP infighting between White and Hosemann and their leadership teams, with the two chambers killing much of each other's legislative priorities. House Minority Leader Robert Johnson of Natchez said the Republican bickering this session is not good for the state, and he hopes GOP leaders in the House and Senate can learn to get along. He said they should have stayed and passed a state budget, not relied on the governor to force them back into session. 'I think the situation is just unfortunate,' Johnson said. 'It appears to me, after being in the Legislature for 30 years, that problems like this are more about personalities than actual issues. They need to step back, set aside their personal feelings and look at what's best for the state of Mississippi instead.' Even though the House finally accomplished its long-championed policy of eliminating the income tax, lawmakers might have to correct some of the mistakes in the legislation in the future. The House began to seethe after it felt the Senate was dragging its feet on proposing a plan to eliminate the income tax, after it killed most of White's K-12 public education reforms and refused to pass a bill legalizing mobile sports betting. When the Senate finally passed a measure to eliminate the income tax, it included typos that eliminated the tax much quicker than the Senate intended. Instead of pointing out the error to the Senate, the House pounced on it, passed the flawed bill and sent it to the governor. Normally, each side would work with the other to correct known mistakes in legislation. The Senate felt burned by the House's move and accused House leaders of negotiating in bad faith. Those frustrations carried over into trying to reach agreement on the state's $7 billion general fund budget. The House leadership had vowed to avoid crunching budget numbers late into the night on 'conference weekend' Saturday, as is tradition and the deadline for filing agreements. Many lawmakers have for years complained about the rushed budget setting, saying they don't have time to vet or sometimes even read spending bills, and it has resulted in major mistakes in the past. White has vowed to end the practice. The Senate, however, said they tried to iron out spending bills with their House counterparts during the week leading up to the conference weekend deadline, but they were initially met with silence. Still, House leaders met with Senate budget writers during the middle of last week to try to agree on at least some of the budget bills. But Hosemann said at one point on Friday night, the House walked out of the negotiations. Another point of contention between the two chambers is that Senate negotiators pledged not to agree to spend excess cash on lawmakers' pet projects, including in an annual 'Christmas Tree' bill. Lawmakers typically pass such a bill, usually ranging from $200 million to $400 million on earmarked projects across the state. Some lawmakers have complained this 'pork' spending based on politics is an unfair way to spend money on projects in a poor state with many infrastructure needs. The Legislature has not left Jackson without setting at least most of the state budget since 2009, when then-Gov. Haley Barbour had to force them back to Jackson to avoid a government shutdown. But that 2009 instance was when Democrats still had a slight majority in the House and Senate, with Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant presiding over the Senate and Democratic Speaker Billy McCoy leading the House. Now, Republicans have a supermajority in both chambers. The House on Wednesday afternoon made a final attempt to revive negotiations by passing a measure to revive budget bills and extend the session. But shortly after the House passed the proposal, the Senate ended business for the day without considering the House offer. Sen. Angela Burks Hill, R-Picayune, is one of a handful of more conservative senators who had opposed the tax overhaul compromise with the House and was angered by its passage due to typos. She also was displeased with the House's failure to show up on conference weekend to negotiate a budget and said she was '100% opposed' to passing a resolution to extend the session and renew negotiations with the House. 'That's what happens when you play Napoleon,' Hill said. When asked to whom she was referring as Napoleon, she said, 'You can figure it out.' The decision to leave the state Capitol without a budget comes in the middle of unpredictability with the federal government, where President Donald Trump's administration is cancelling hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants and other funding to states. Mississippi is one of the most federally dependent states in the nation. State Health Officer Daniel Edney told lawmakers earlier this week that the federal government has cancelled around $230 million in federal grants to the state Department of Health. And Hosemann told reporters on Wednesday that State Superintendent of Education Lance Evans informed him that around $190 million in education funding was frozen, though the lieutenant governor did not reveal the specific details of those funds. ___ ___
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
MS House adjourns 2025 Session without budget. How much would special session cost?
The Mississippi Legislature's 2025 session is now effectively over, leaving the state without a $7 billion budget for the coming fiscal year and without a multi-million-dollar local project funding bill. As a result, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves, who did not reply to requests for comment by press time, will now have the responsibility to bring lawmakers back to Jackson before July 1 and make them hash out $7 billion in state spending to avoid a government shutdown. A special session would cost roughly $100,000 per day, which is just shy of the cost for an out-of-state student to obtain a four-year degree at the University of Mississippi. On Wednesday, the House passed a resolution to suspend the rules of the Legislature and revive about 100 budget proposals that died over the weekend by legislative deadlines. Those deaths were attributed to House lawmakers not showing up on a Saturday workday, typically referred to as conference weekend, to finish budget negotiations between the House and Senate. House Speaker Jason White, R-West, who authored the bill, put into its contents a deadline of 5 p.m. on Wednesday for the Senate to agree to the resolution so that budget and other discussions related to tax cuts and state retirement funding could continue, two hotly debated topics this session. Special session imminent: Cities may not receive funding for special projects from MS Legislature this year. See why The Senate didn't take the bait and gaveled out for the day before ever even discussing the resolution on the Senate floor. The House later kept its word and ended the session. The Senate is scheduled to re-meet Thursday morning. With the House adjourning for the year, business between the two chambers can no longer continue, effectively ending the legislative session. The Senate can, however, continue meeting until April 6 and pass bills already sent over from the House. Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said he would send the resolution to a Senate committee for further work but also said Senate and House budget negotiators can just come back next week and restart budget talks while waiting for a special session to be called. "This is not a yo-yo budget," Hosemann told reporters. "This is a $30 billion budget in which they have ignored the deadlines, failed to show up, repeatedly, taken their marbles home at least twice, and given us conflicting statements every other time. So, yeah, our guys are ready to do the budget, I'm going to ask that we start the budget next week, that our chairman get with their chairman, and we start the budget for next week." A special session would give Reeves an enormous amount of power to set an agenda and require lawmakers to work on whatever legislation he wants in addition to the budget. That fact was not lost on White, who told reporters he wanted to workout a budget with Senate leadership before the end of the session on April 6 but did not have an agreement from Hosemann that budget talks would continue. "(Reeves) always said he wouldn't call a special session on any item until there was an agreement, so that we didn't sit up here for days on end, wasting taxpayer money coming in or fussing and punching out," White said. "I suspect he would require that an agreement be in place before we come back. But even if we do have an agreement that's going to take a few days to work through those bills." Hosemann and White's team had been in backroom meetings since Monday trying to find a path forward. While the House was generally in support of suspending the rules of the Legislature to extend the session and revive budget proposals, the Senate was not. The Clarion Ledger polled 20 senators on Saturday, and of them, 15, including members of leadership, said they would not consider extending the session. Also, on Saturday several others, both Republican and Democrat, expressed not wanting to extend the session just so House lawmakers "could take a day off." One of the sticking points of continued disagreements, White said, was whether to have a local projects funding bill, which is typically funded with $100-$400 million in capital expense funds spread for various projects around the state. Early voting: 'Great step for Mississippi.' New voting method passes Legislature. Read how it works Typical projects are for parks, public buildings and rural road projects. White said the House wanted a projects bill and the Senate was leaving municipalities out on a limb without it, but Hosemann and his team would not entertain the idea. Hosemann responded by saying it was not fiscally responsible to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on local projects when the Legislature just passed a net $2 billion tax cut. "If you're articulating that we got to watch our funds because of the tax cut or looming cuts from the feds, then we shouldn't be spending any capex (capital expense) money," White said. "But we can't pick and choose some big projects that look good for folks that might want to run for statewide office and not look to local governments." Earlier in the session, lawmakers passed House Bill 1, which eliminated the income tax over a decade, cuts the sales tax on groceries to 5% and raises the gas tax by 9 cents. The bill also established a new, some call controversial, hybrid set of state retirement plan benefits for future public employees. One issue with the bill is that it contained a tax cut trigger typo that more aligned with a House priority to quickly eliminate the income tax. The House discovered the mistake and went with it anyway, and Reeves later signed it. Several senators said their unwillingness to consider a project bill came from frustration with the House for not sending the tax bill back to the Senate to fix the typo. Hosemann also noted that just in the past few weeks, hundreds of millions of dollars in federal dollars flowing toward state health and education programs had been frozen, further justifying his decision not to have a projects bill this year. Upon adjourning the session, White thanked House staff, members and his own staff for their work in the session. In his goodbye speech White said the house conducted its business fairly and efficiently. Neither Hosemann or White had received word from Reeves' office on when the special session might take place or what items Reeves would put on the agenda. Grant McLaughlin covers the Legislature and state government for the Clarion Ledger. He can be reached at gmclaughlin@ or 972-571-2335. This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Special session incoming as MS House adjourns 2025 Session without budget
Associated Press
31-03-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Legislative session crashes with lawmakers unable to set a budget because of Republican infighting
Mississippi Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and other Senate leaders on Saturday excoriated the Republican House leadership, after the House didn't show up for what was supposed to be 'conference weekend' to haggle out a $7 billion budget. 'There is no reasonable explanation for this,' Hosemann said. '… A special session will be very expensive. We just cut taxes, but now we're going to go spend tens of thousands of dollars so (the House) can have the weekend off. I hope they enjoy their weekend off. If anyone sees any of their House members this weekend, they need to ask them, why didn't you do your job? Where were you? 'It's embarrassing,' Hosemann said. 'We all took the same oath … We adopted the rules. We all agreed to be here … If we can't set a budget, that means, for Child Protective Services, we have little girls tonight having to stay in hotel rooms. Teachers can't sign their contracts for their jobs … Highway patrolmen are out there not knowing how much they'll get paid … This is chaotic, and it's senseless.' The roughly 100 bills that make up the state's annual budget died with Friday and Saturday night deadlines. To revive the budget bills and end this year's legislative session roughly on time, the House and Senate would have to agree to a parliamentary extension of deadlines and the session, or Gov. Tate Reeves would have to force them into special session sometime before the new budget year starts July 1. Numerous senators, on both sides of the aisle, on Saturday vowed they wouldn't vote for extending the session. 'There really isn't any other option (than the governor calling a special session),' Hosemann said. 'You heard what the senators were saying.' Besides costing taxpayers easily $100,000 a day to pay, feed and house lawmakers, staff the Capitol and legislative services offices and other expenses, a special session also gives the constitutionally weak governor a little more control over legislation, in that he can control what items are on the agenda. Lawmakers had expected to end this year's three-month session by the middle of next week, with setting a budget being one of the final chores. Although they're all Republicans, House and Senate leaders — including Hosemann and Speaker Jason White — have politically clashed for the last two years and had trouble agreeing on major issues. Recently, they passed a tax overhaul bill to the governor that would eliminate the state income tax, long a goal of White and House leaders. But Senate leaders have cried foul over the manner in which it was passed into law. The House seized on typos in the Senate bill that made it more like the House position, and Gov. Reeves signed it into law. With the tax battle going on for most of this session and causing ill will, the House and Senate have killed much of each other's other major initiatives and bills. The House on Friday had announced it was leaving for the weekend and would return Monday. For the last two years, White has said he wants lawmakers to start negotiating on the budget earlier in the legislative session and try to avoid crunching numbers on the Saturday night deadline, referred to as 'conference weekend,' which happens late in the session. For years, rank-and-file lawmakers have complained that they often don't have time to read the lengthy budget bills because of the rushed nature of Saturday night budget negotiations, which has also caused lawmakers and staff attorneys in previous years to make mistakes in legislation. Last session, lawmakers ironed out most of the budget during conference weekend, but White said he told Hosemann that would not be the case this year. 'We're just not going to be up here in the middle of the night doing a hurried budget,' White said. 'We're through doing that from here and all years forward.' White told reporters that House leaders had signed off on their proposed budget bills and sent them to the Senate before a Friday night deadline. But Hosemann and other Senate leaders on Saturday said that never happened. They said not only did House leaders not send budget bills over, they ghosted Senate budget negotiators most of last week, preventing early agreements being reached. And, Senate leaders said, the House closed its daily journal and docket rooms early at least a couple of days, meaning the Senate couldn't deliver and file bills. Sen. Brice Wiggins, R-Pascagoula, on Saturday said he suspects discord over the tax overhaul, and the Senate refusing to agree with the House on legalizing online gambling played into the current budget stalemate. But he said he gets along with his House counterparts and the problems are more at the leadership level. 'As much as I respect the speaker, I don't understand this,' Wiggins said. '… Really, what this is doing is holding hostage agencies and the running of state government because of some issues they have … People send us here to get our business done in the 90 days we have. I just want to keep us from becoming like Washington, D.C., because D.C. is not exactly the bastion of efficiency.' Such a standoff, and potential special session, has loomed over much of the 2025 session, when it appeared the House and Senate would remain at loggerheads over the tax overhaul, until the Senate accidentally agreed with the House with the typos in what it passed.
