Mid-year budget gets Senate's OK | ajc.com: "The GOP-dominated Senate approved a mid-year spending plan Thursday that strips more than $20 million in favored projects added by House Republican leaders, setting up negotiations between the two chambers. The two sides met for the first time Thursday, will get together again today and then take off the weekend so some of the lawmakers can attend the Daytona 500 in Florida.

The mid-year spending plan is the initial budget test since Republicans formally took over the House last month, giving the party control of the Capitol for the first time since Reconstruction. For the first time, the three-man negotiating teams for each chamber will be made up only of Republicans."