By AARON SANDERFORD
Nebraska Examiner
LINCOLN — The Nebraska Legislature, flush with federal cash, gave first-round approval Thursday to the Appropriations Committee’s $9.9 billion main budget bill for the two years that end in mid-2023.
The bill’s 40-6 passage papered over simmering divisions among senators about the best approach to state spending moving forward, which spilled into subsequent debate.
State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Omaha, who voted against the budget, said she worries about how little of their discussion focused on what their decisions might mean for state spending year-over-year when the federal relief spigot shuts off.
“The majority, sometimes even if it’s a super majority, makes a mistake,” Linehan said.
Sen. John Stinner, chairman of the budget-writing Appropriations Committee, defended his committee’s work, deep into the next debate over proposed transfers from cash reserve funds.
He pointed to the budget’s $62 million in wage increases for state employees and highlighted the $95 million for increased reimbursement rates for Medicaid providers.
“Go home and find a nursing home and find out what’s happening,” Stinner said. “They don’t have staff. Go to Mullen, Nebraska, where they just lost their nursing home.”
Sens. Justin Wayne and Terrell McKinney of Omaha, who voted no on the bill, criticized colleagues who spoke about the need to help North and South Omaha, then spent budget money elsewhere.
“If North and South Omaha was an investment area of our state, they clearly could’ve found a way just like they did here to invest,” Wayne said. “They chose not to.”
McKinney paraphrased 2Pac, the deceased rapper and street poet: “Politicians and hypocrites, they don’t want to engage.”
Appropriations has proposed spending up to $250 million in federal relief funds on disadvantaged ZIP codes in Omaha.
Sen. Curt Friesen of Henderson expressed frustration that too many of his colleagues voted to end first-round debate before senators had a chance to change or amend the budget.
“We’re spending on things I don’t think we should be spending on,” said Friesen, who also voted against the budget. “Somewhere down the line we’re going to have a compromise.”
Sens. Macheala Cavanaugh and John Cavanaugh also voted against the budget advancing.
State Sen. John Lowe of Kearney explained his vote in favor of the budget. He described the bill as vital to filling open positions at the Central Nebraska Veterans Home and Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center in his district.
“We have a lot of problems out there, and we need the help,” Lowe said. “There will be some amendments coming up. I hope we get to those.”
State Sen. Suzanne Geist of Lincoln said senators need to find a way forward: “I think we’re at a place where we need to talk to each other.”
The Legislature expects to spend the rest of Thursday on the cash reserve.
Speaker of the Legislature Mike Hilgers said he expects the second round of budget debate March 24.