JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Missouri House and Senate negotiators remain in a bitter standoff over the state's budget - in part because of a dispute about whether their differences should be settled in public.
Lawmakers face a Friday deadline to give final approval to the state's $23 billion operating budget.
On Wednesday, House Budget Committee Chairman Ryan Silvey presented what he described as a compromise plan for the entire budget and asked Senate negotiators to sign it.
But Senate Appropriations Committee Kurt Schaefer called it an ultimatum and an unprecedented break from normal procedure in which House and Senate negotiators settle their differences item-by-item in a public meeting.
Silvey accused Schaefer of being disingenuous and unwilling to compromise, then broke off a public meeting on the budget.