Time Runs Low for Va. Legislators

"If we don't finish it up [Saturday], it shouldn't be more than 48 hours," said Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax). "Unless it falls apart. But right now it's moving in the right direction."

Kaine made a final push to make a deal possible Friday morning when he had the House and Senate over for breakfast at the governor's mansion. At the meeting, legislators agreed to base the final budget around Kaine's projections of sluggish revenue growth in 2009 and 2010.

House and Senate negotiators are expected to agree on cuts in aid to local governments and some spending reductions to state agencies, although the details were still being completed last night.

Legislative leaders will then turn their attention to how much they want to spend on new or expanded programs.

Legislators already have agreed to spend an additional $42 million on mental health reforms, which became a priority after the Virginia Tech shootings. Republicans and Democrats also ironed out an agreement to spend an additional $18 million on child welfare programs.

But ideological differences remain over how much should be spent in other areas.

Senate Democrats are supporting Kaine's proposal to expand access to pre-kindergarten to more low-income 4-year-olds. House Republicans say the state cannot afford that spending, about $30 million, because of the economic slowdown.

House Republicans are instead pushing for more spending on programs that allow the mentally retarded to receive home care instead of being institutionalized.

There also are disagreements over whether the state can afford to give schoolteachers a pay raise this year. Senate Democrats are pushing for a 2.5 percent raise next year, but House Republicans say the state might not be able to afford it unless other programs are cut.

House Republicans are instead pushing for more money for higher education, which they say will reduce the chances that public universities will have to raise tuition.

As the two sides met into the night, legislators were growing increasingly anxious that they might not be able to get home Saturday.

Hamilton, like many veterans of past budget fights, extended his hotel reservations Friday so he has a place to stay if the session is extended. But freshman Del. Paul F. Nichols (D-Prince William) did not expect the General Assembly to go into overtime. The lease for Nichols's temporary apartment one block from the State House expires Saturday at midnight.

"It's a problem," Nichols said. "I've got to make some plans."

Staff writer Anita Kumar contributed to this report.