PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Legislature is extending its special session after the Senate narrowly rejected a bill to cut funding for K-12 schools and Department of Economic Security social programs.
After Thursday's voting, the Senate adjourned until Monday, and the House then did the same.
Majority Republicans were caught off-guard when they fell one vote short of passing the spending cuts bill.
That was with one Republican absent on a preplanned cruise, another voting against the bill because he objects to fee increases in another bill, and a third whose absence was unexplained.
Senate Democrats voted solidly against the spending cut bill, saying cuts are needed but only as part of a more comprehensive budget-balancing approach.
