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For a time last week the conferees would not meet to so much as discuss the situation. When they did meet, both sides were adamant in their positions.
To much of the general public—as well as to many of the legislators—the squabble seemed petty childish beyond belief. As one disgusted lawmaker put it, “They are arguing about whether to meet at a round table or a square table!”
But to the elders there was nothing petty about it. At issue, from the perspective of the House was a principle as ancient as the Republic. That principle was that all spending legislation must originate in the lower house of a legislative body, which is popularly considered the “house of the people.” The principle is embedded in the federal constitution, and has been followed by Virginia as a matter of precedent. The House of Delegates sees any relaxing of its authority over the management of the budget process as a dangerous erosion of that precedent. i
The senators, however, scoff at the idea. They rely on another constitutional principle. This one holds that in a bicameral (two house) legislative body, the two houses are co-equal in all things. Thus, in their view, the Senate has as much right to participate in the management of the budget as does the House. To this end, beginning last year, the Senate has broken with tradition and introduced its own budget bill.
The move was accepted, at least publicly, with good grace by the House. Privately, however, it angered—and frightened the wits out of—some of the senior delegates who see the pre-eminence of the House in budget matters as the key to power in almost all other legislative areas. Any threat to that pre-eminence is regarded as vastly disturbing, if not intolerable.
And they saw any giving in on the question of how the two bills should be handled as precisely such a threat. The senators, on the other hand, saw any softness on their part as a setback in their effort to assert what they regard as their rightful role in the budget making process.
Hence last week’s bruising stalemate.
And, to be sure, there were egos involved. Both sides roundly subscribed to the proposition that wishy-washiness in pursuit of compromise is no virtue, while mule-head edness in pursuit of principle is no vice.
At midweek the outcome was still in doubt.
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