LINCOLN — The Nebraska Legislature, flush with federal cash, gave first-round approval Thursday, March 17 to the Appropriations Committee’s $9.9 billion main budget bill for the two years that end in mid-2023.

The bill’s 40-6 passage papered over simmering divisions among senators about the best approach to state spending moving forward, which spilled into subsequent debate. One senator who voted in opposition to the budget, Sen. Lou Ann Linehan, said she has concerns with the lack of discussion about the potential repercussions of their decisions.

“The majority, sometimes even if it’s a supermajority, makes a mistake,” Linehan said.

Sen. John Stinner, who serves as the chairman of the budget-writing Appropriations Committee, defended the group's work and continued to do so well into the next bill's debate. In regard to the budget's $62 million in wage increases for state employees and $95 million for increased reimbursement rates for Medicaid providers, Stinner said, “Go home and find a nursing home and find out what’s happening. They don’t have staff. Go to Mullen, Nebraska, where they just lost their nursing home.”

Two of the six that voted no on the bill, Sens. Justin Wayne and Terrell McKinney, pointed out the hypocrisy of their colleagues who spoke in agreement with them about North and South Omaha's needs, yet spent budget money elsewhere.

“If North and South Omaha was an investment area of our state, they clearly could’ve found a way just like they did here to invest,” Wayne said. “They chose not to.”

Sen. Curt Friesen, who also voted against the budget, was frustrated with his colleagues voting to end first-round debate before they were able to change or amend the budget.

“We’re spending on things I don’t think we should be spending on,” said Friesen, who also voted against the budget. “Somewhere down the line we’re going to have a compromise.”

Sens. Machaela Cavanaugh and John Cavanaugh also voted against the budget advancing.

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