The governor has set a Thursday deadline for passing a budget, in order to place a measure extending tax increases on a June special election ballot. But so far, he has exactly zero of the four Republican votes he says he needs.
The majority of Republican lawmakers strongly oppose a vote to place the tax extensions on the ballot. But at least three GOP Senators are reportedly in private talks with Brown. Topics on the table appear to include a spending cap and pension and regulatory reforms.
Influential GOP anti-tax groups are warning lawmakers that a vote for the governor's spending plan would violate the no-new-taxes pledge most of them signed. But as Brown's self-imposed budget deadline nears, business groups are slowly but surely saying they will support tax extensions - IF there are pension and regulatory reforms too.
