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ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) Maryland Democrats on a budget negotiating team agreed Friday on some measures they hope will encourage Republican Gov. Larry Hogan to support added money for education and break a standoff on the states $40 billion budget.

House and Senate negotiators reconciled budget differences between the two houses of the Democratic-led Legislature, with some incentives they hope will find favor with the governor, who ultimately will need to approve Democratic priorities of added funding for education and a 2 percent cost-of-living adjustment for state employees.

Its more than a gesture, said Del. Maggie McIntosh, D-Baltimore. We really are acting in very good faith.

The panel agreed to provide about $7.5 million in state aid for private schools. Of that, $4 million would go toward textbooks and technology, and $3.5 million would be allocated for capital projects for aging schools. Its a compromise to Hogans proposal to provide $5 million in tax credits for businesses that provide financial support for private school students a proposal that has met stiff resistance in the House.

They also agreed to directing additional money to shore up the pension system, after Hogan criticized a proposal to tap $75 million of a $150 million extra payment initially planned for the underfunded pension system. To make up for it, the panel decided to steer half of any fund balance above than $10 million to the pension system, though it would be capped at $50 million.

Hogan and the Legislature have been sparring over whether to restore about $202 million to education, state employee pay and Medicaid that Hogan initially trimmed from his budget plan in January to help address a $750 million deficit and finally address a structural deficit.

It was unclear whether Hogan or Republicans on the panel would approve of the changes.

Republican members are thinking, Sen. George Edwards, a Garrett County Republican who is on the conference committee, said. Ill leave it at that right now.

The committee also agreed to put the 2 percent cost-of-living adjustment for state employees into their base salaries. The governor would either spend money set aside by the Legislature to pay for it or use furloughs to make up the money.

House Democrats also passed some of Hogans scaled-back legislative initiatives. A measure to expand charter schools, though heavily rewritten by the Senate, was approved by a House committee Friday. A House committee also passed a pared-back bill to provide some tax relief on military retirement pensions. A measure to end state-mandated stormwater management fees also cleared a House committee.

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Md. Democrats Make Overture To Governor On Budget

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) Maryland Democrats and Republicans remained mired in political gamesmanship Friday, with the GOP criticizing Democrats for not acting on Gov. Larry Hogans revised budget plans and Democrats saying the Republican governors plans undermine bipartisan budget legislation already approved by the Legislature.

Squabbling in Marylands budget standoff persisted as lawmakers faced a midnight Monday deadline, when the 90 day legislative session is scheduled to end. The session could be extended 10 days to focus exclusively on the budget.

Republicans in the House of Delegates criticized Democrats who control the chamber for not bringing two of Hogans supplemental budgets before lawmakers to consider. One of them adds money for the governors tax-relief measures, which have not been acted on in the House. The other, released Thursday, restores $75 million in an extra payment to shore up the states pension system.

If any of us were to introduce legislation and it not be given the proper due process, hey, thats insulting, said Del. Nic Kipke, a Republican from Anne Arundel County who is the House minority leader. And my concern is that while some may not approve or support entirely aspects of the supplemental, isnt it the right thing to do to allow the process to continue?

But Democrats contend the governors recent proposals undermine budget legislation that was approved 129-10 in the House and 46-0 in the Senate.

Its supplemental budgets No. 2 and 3, that I would suggest, those supplemental budgets actually undermine the process, said Del. Bill Frick, D-Montgomery.

The governor, who has strong budget authority in Maryland, submits supplemental budgets to appropriate new spending. They enabled the governor to correct errors or omissions in his initial budget plan.

But Democrats argued that Hogans supplemental budgets themselves were flawed, technically as well as politically.

Del. Maggie McIntosh, a Baltimore Democrat who heads the House Appropriations Committee, said a $5 million provision in Hogans second supplemental budget relies on money in the states Cigarette Restitution Fund, but she said there isnt $5 million in the fund to pay for it.

So theres a problem with that supplemental budget, she said.

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Md. Democrats And Republicans Continue Budget Brinksmanship

Senate Democrats sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ken., on Friday calling for votes on four bills benefiting the middle class that were approved as non-binding amendments to the budget resolution last month.

The Democratic lawmakers said the proposals all garnered significant Republican support during the budget "vote-a-rama" that took place before the two-week Easter recess.

The Senators called for up-or-down votes on legislation to provide paid sick leave for workers, protect pregnant workers from discrimination, ensure same-sex couples have equal access to federal benefits and enact tax cuts for middle class families.

During the budget process, three of the four proposals received at least the 60 votes needed to override a filibuster, although the amendment providing equal access to benefits for same-sex couples fell three votes short.

"As you know, amendments to the budget that are voted on during vote-a-rama do not have the force of law," the Senators wrote. "However, a bipartisan majority vote on an amendment can be an important mark of whether or not a certain policy can pass the Senate with a 60 vote affirmative threshold."

The added, "Too often, the budget vote-a-rama is characterized as a partisan exercise that leaves no lasting policy impact. Working with you, we hope to make this Budget vote-a-rama different."

The Democrats reiterated their opposition to the underlying Senate Republican budget but argued that their proposals deserve a vote.

Responding to the letter, McConnell spokesman Don Stewart noted that the Democrats left out a lot of Republican amendments that passed with bipartisan support, adding, "I'm sure that was just an oversight."

"Despite not bringing many of these issues to the floor when they were in the majority, under the new Congress' return to regular order, Senators of both parties now have the opportunity to work with the appropriate committee chairmen to report bipartisan legislation that complies with the budget," Stewart said.

The letter was signed by Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Patty Murray, D-Wash., Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Bob Casey, D-Penn., Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Al Franken, D-Minn.

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Democrats Ask McConnell For Binding Votes On Middle Class Bills

MSNBCs Thomas Roberts: Clintons Continued Stumbles May Bring About Buyers Remorse For Democrats
MSNBC #39;s Thomas Roberts: Clinton #39;s Continued Stumbles May Bring About Buyer #39;s Remorse For Democrats (April 7, 2015)

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Colorado Capitol Dome (Denver Post file photo)

House Democrats are poised to add $5 million to the state budget bill for a controversial program that provides intrauterine contraceptive devices to teenagers, a move that may derail negotiations with Republicans on the $25 billion spending plan.

The money will continue a privately funded program that provides IUDs or other long-acting reversible birth control to women at little to no cost one credited with a 42 percent decline in the state's teen abortion rate and a 39 percent drop in the teen birth rate in five years.

The House is expected to consider the amendment along with 38 others Wednesday afternoon in a marathon session on the budget bill. But the majority Democratic caucus took an informal vote earlier in the day to support the provision after a verbal whip crack from House Speaker Dickey Lee Hullinghorst, who shut down initial misgivings about the procedural move.

"Members, we need this amendment," the Boulder Democrat said, cutting off debate on the move that initially drew a handful of Democratic opponents. "This is a priority for the caucus. This is belt and suspenders in case the bill doesn't pass we need the appropriation."

Democrats are pushing to put the language in the budget because a related bill to continue the Colorado Family Planning Initiative won't survive the state Senate, where Republicans control the majority.

Senate Republicans oppose the measure, with some saying it represents a duplication to services provided in the federal health care law and others suggesting IUDs cause abortions a point disputed by the medical community.

Senate Republicans opposed a similar amendment to the budget bill a week earlier, meaning the two chambers will need to work out the differences in a conference committee next week.

However, this provision may prove especially difficult. For it to win approval in the conference committee, which is the Joint Budget Committee, it needs at least one Senate Republican to support it.

John Frank: 303-954-2409, jfrank@denverpost.com or twitter.com/ByJohnFrank

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Democrats to seek $5 million for IUD program in Colorado budget battle