Echols Reports On Capitol Sausage-Making

This is a daily entry by Majority Floor Leader, Jon Echols, regarding the special session.

Day 6: Sausage Making
by Jon Echols

Special Session Update day 6.
​Again the House will not be meeting today “in session” in order to save taxpayer dollars. We have maintained our position that the point of special session is to fix the budget and all efforts should go to that goal.
The Republican Caucus will meet again today and discussions will continue with all parties. Not surprisingly the sticking points are similar to where they were last session. There are still two proposal being considered and considerable research is being done to get them right. Bill drafting will likely start today.

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There are many opinions on what we need to do. However, I think there is consensus we need to fix the constant uncertainty in the budget. As Majority Leader I am of course entitled to my own opinion. But I also have the responsibility of attempting to lead the caucus to a solution that can be supported by at least 48 members in the case of a revenue raising measure or 51 members in the case of an efficiency measure or tax exemption repeal. ​
I believe every member of the Republican Caucus (the one I work most closely with) is operating in good faith attempting to find a solution. I hope when the consensus is reached there can be both wide support in the caucus and from the other side of the isle. But that won’t happen without continued hard work and compromise.