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00000175-b316-d35a-a3f7-bbdeff690001Agenda Texas is KUT's weekly report on the Texas Legislative session. Each week we'll take a deeper look into the policies being considered and explain what they could mean for you and your life. From transportation to education to the environment and everything in between.It's KUT's political podcast that lets you know what's happening under the dome and explains how it hits home.

Agenda Texas: Budget Agreement Gets Stuck

The education debate begins in the House.
Photo courtesy the Texas Tribune for KUT News
The education debate begins in the House.

Hey you remember on Friday when we announced there was a budget agreement?

Yeah, about that....

The agreement may not have been as set in stone as we thought. Today, budget negotiators are back at it, making sure the Friday truce holds through the passage of a couple additional pieces of legislation needed to make the budget math work.

Aman Batheja covers the Texas Budget for the Texas Tribune. He said negotiations have definitely become muddled.

"In the past 24 hour we've learned that the deal that was announced on Friday, wasn't completely in stone," Batheja said.

House and Senate leaders have begun to bicker over what's in the budget agreement and what was agreed upon in the first place. Those disagreements are now focused on a couple of bills, one in the House and one in the Senate.

The Senate wants the House to pass SJR 1, which would create a bank account to fund water infrastructure projects. The House wants the Senate to pass HB 1025, which would include about $200 million dollars for public schools.

The House has a deadline to pass SJR 1 by midnight tonight.

So for better or worse, we should know how the budget battle ends in the next several hours.

Ben Philpott is the Managing Editor for KUT. Got a tip? Email him at bphilpott@kut.org. Follow him on Twitter @BenPhilpottKUT.
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