Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 5 · column 1 of 6 · from the scan, no model involved
Budget
From Page A1
Fredericksburg, the Senate’s chief budget negotiator. “Join the club.”
The Senate voted 32-5 to support the budget compromise at about 12:30 p.m. A few hours later, the House of Delegates followed suit, passing the budget 65-30.
McLean Delegate Vincent Callahan (R-34th), the House’s chief negotiator, likened the tiresome, and frequently tense, budget debates to being “sentenced to life imprisonment — shackled and chained ... with no relief in sight.”
Friday’s votes came on the 115th day of a scheduled 60-day General Assembly session. There was minimal debate in either chamber, since most arguments were exhausted two weeks ago in the session’s climax, a fierce battle over the amount of tax increases.
“This is an historic day in Virginia,” said Sen. Russ Potts (R-27th), chairman of the Senate Education and Health Committee. “We did the right thing. We put Virginia ahead of politics. Yes, I hate taxes, but I love Virginia more.”
The budget compromise sends $1.5 billion in additional aid to public schools across the state and provides services to more than 1,200 additional people with mental retardation.
93.4%