$33.6B budget gets tentative OK; gives $1B boost to schools

One-hundred and fifty days of contentious budget negotiations — and the threat of a government shutdown — ended Thursday morning with a handshake.

Democratic House Appropriations Chairman Ross Hunter and Republican Senate Ways and Means Chairman Andy Hill looked at each other, decided they were done and declared “that’s a pretty good budget.”

Nobody in the room said, thank God, that’s over. “I think that was implied,” Hill said.