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INDIANAPOLIS – The two primary rivals of the budget battle put their best spin Wednesday on the just-ended special legislative session that cost taxpayers about $150,000.
"Hoosier taxpayers should be enormously glad and relieved at this outcome," Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels said. "I’d rather there hadn’t been (a special session), but thank goodness there was.
"We have prevented the bankruptcy of this state. We have prevented what would have been an inevitable tax increase. It was worth the effort and it was worth the money."
Lawmakers failed during the regular session to pass a budget that at that time spent more money than the state would have, according to a new revenue forecast.
Though the final compromise was decidedly Republican in content and votes, Daniels’ nemesis – Democratic House Speaker Pat Bauer – focused on the positive Wednesday.
He said under Daniels’ special session budget proposal, K-12 education would have received only $56 million in new state dollars. But after intense negotiations, the new budget bill increased that to $165 million, avoiding some teacher layoffs.
And he said higher education funding was flatlined instead of cut, with more money for capital projects.
"You don’t always get what you need," Bauer said. "We think we did what we could."
Both Bauer and Daniels largely avoided questions about their relationship, which has grown increasingly antagonistic. The two men haven’t spoken to each other in weeks.
"He hasn’t called," Daniels said of the lack of communication.
Bauer similarly quipped, "He hasn’t called. He hasn’t written."
Then he showed reporters a "My Man Mitch" button he found and said he thinks Daniels is thinking of him.
"Politics is a contact sport," Bauer said. "After the fight, you move on."
Daniels said there are things he doesn’t like in the budget, which he officially signed into law late Tuesday, but he did not elaborate.
"This budget in the end had a pretty good bipartisan support. To achieve an outcome like that you not only have to accept, but really welcome the fact there will be things you don’t think are good policy or necessary spending," Daniels said. "I would have liked to spend something less than we finally did, have more protection for the future, but this was about trying to come together.
"I want to commend them for getting it done, with a whole five hours to spare."
If lawmakers hadn’t passed the budget, the state would have shut down at midnight Tuesday.
