BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — As Louisiana's special session appears to slowly crash and burn, finger-pointing has replaced efforts to reach a compromise on taxes to help close the state's ever-nearing budget shortfall.
Lawmakers in the House cannot reach a deal about what tax measures to advance, and they've taken a series of votes rejecting tax ideas. The session, called by Gov. John Bel Edwards, could end as early as Monday, with no bills passed so far. It must end by Wednesday, leaving the narrowest of windows to break through the gridlock of the last two weeks.
Failure to broker a deal after repeated attempts, however, seems to have hardened positions and amplified mistrust.
If the Democratic governor and House factions can't bridge the divide, lawmakers will head into their regular session next week having to balance the budget for the year starting July 1 with nearly $700 million less in state financing than they had this year. The TOPS free college tuition program and health services for the poor and disabled could be at risk of deep cuts.
Sunday night, a divided House rejected for a second time a sales tax proposal that had been supported by House GOP leaders, two days after the narrow defeat of an income tax measure backed by most Democrats.
"I believe it was a chess match between the Democrats and the Republicans at the end, and the whole board crashed," said Rep. Mark Abraham, a Lake Charles Republican. "I don't see any way to reassemble the board."
Within minutes of the latest tax bill failure, officials accused each other of cratering attempts to broker a deal.
Edwards posted on Twitter that he believes "the House has given up any effort to solve the fiscal cliff." He said the House Republican leadership "did not negotiate in good faith."
Republicans said Democrats kept changing their demands in the negotiations. GOP House Speaker Taylor Barras issued a statement saying Edwards "contributed to the collapse of this session" by demanding the full budget gap be offset and "being unable to garner the support of his House Democrats."
House Democratic Caucus Chairman Gene Reynolds sent out a statement chastising Republicans for "bad behavior and irresponsibility."
The $994 million budget shortfall is tied to the expiration of temporary taxes. Part of the shortfall will be offset with $302 million estimated from increased state income-tax collections caused by federal tax changes, leaving a hole of $692 million.
Factions in the House and Edwards appear unable reach agreement on which tax types — and how much money — to use to offset the shortfall. But even when support seems aligned for a tax measure, deals have broken down over other issues.
Sunday night's meltdown centered on the debate calendar.
Democrats wanted a proposal to decrease the itemized deductions allowed for upper-income taxpayers to move first, to ensure that enough Republicans would support it. Republican leaders instead pushed ahead with a proposal to temporarily renew one-quarter of an expiring 1 percent sales tax.
GOP lawmakers agreed to strip ties in the sales tax bill from two Medicaid restrictions that the Black Caucus opposes. But because the sales tax measure went first, the Black Caucus voted against the proposal, along with many Republicans.
"Dems got everything they wanted & then voted against the bill!" Rep. Jay Morris, a Monroe Republican, posted on Twitter.
Only 33 of 104 representatives supported the sales tax proposal. It needed 70 votes to pass.
Democratic Rep. Ted James of Baton Rouge, a Black Caucus member, suggested Barras struck deals with Edwards that he didn't uphold.
"It's common place and it's known around the Capitol," James posted on Twitter.
Rep. Malinda White, a Bogalusa Democrat, summed it up: "No trust in the House. Period."
The session costs an estimated $50,000 to $60,000 a day.
-by AP reporter Melinda Deslatte
