newsminer.com

It's a game of "hurry up and wait" in the Capitol today as caucuses plot strategy and House Majority members try to unravel a sizable tangle that arose last night.

House Finance co-chairmen Rep. Mike Hawker and Bill Stoltze seem to have taken most of the Legislature by surprise by adding $9 million requested by Gov. Sarah Palin into the House version of the capital budget.

The Senate already approved the capital budget.

Along with the $9 million came intent language, which is lawmakers' way of specifying what the money should be used for.

Although possibly not designed to do so, the language sounds a lot like an endorsement of Enstar's instate bullet line to some.

Word is that negotiations are underway so that the Legislature can get the capital budget moving again — it was scheduled for a floor vote in the House today but hasn't been moved from Finance. That could mean dropping Palin's $9 million for instate gas work, although the general intention seems to be a desire to work that back into a supplemental or other bill.

Because of the tangle, House Finance's early morning meeting started after 12 p.m., with a floor session gaveled in, then adjourned until 2 p.m.