FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky lawmakers went home without a new state budget Thursday, failing to break a contentious deadlock and guaranteeing a follow-up special session to try again on a spending plan to keep all of state government open this summer.
The prolonged budget impasse proved insurmountable as first the Senate and then the House adjourned their 2010 sessions that opened in January. The final setback came when the Senate spurned a last-minute budget offer from the top House Democrat.
Gov. Steve Beshear later expressed disgust with the lawmakers' inability to reach a budget deal, and said he intended to call a special session in May to get the job done.
A special session, coming in an election year, would cost taxpayers about $64,000 a day.
Beshear gave lawmakers a tongue-lashing, saying they "decided to put their egos and their personal priorities above the needs of Kentucky's families."
