As protesters rally, lawmakers OK $11.5b budget

Tom Fahey reports on a busy budget day at the State House in this morning's Union Leader:

While tax protesters rallied outside the State House chanting "No more taxes," "Ax the Tax" and "It's the spending, stupid," lawmakers in the House and Senate debated and passed the spending and revenue plan for the two fiscal years that start July 1.

In the Senate, the vote was 13-11, with two Manchester Democrats joining Republicans against the plan. One Republican crossed party lines to vote with Democrats.

In the House, the votes were 202-183 on the spending plan contained in House Bill 1, and 201 to 183 on HB 2, which contained tax and fee hikes, along with technical and organizational changes. Four House Republicans voted for the budget, and 18 Democrats voted against it.