Although nearly every level of state government is facing a spending cut as the state grapples with a more than $3 billion deficit, those responsible for crafting the budget didn't think the time was right to give themselves a haircut.

The budget approved last week by lawmakers was stuffed with dozens of policy changes that have little, if anything at all, to do with solving the state’s massive deficit.

The biggest differences between the Republican budget proposal released April 27 and a draft leaked to the press a month earlier were two components designed to generate more than $500 million in revenue without raising taxes. And those two ideas have created the biggest backlash against the latest proposal.

After a tour of the state laboratory, House Democrats met April 28 to call on Republicans to restore funding to emergency health care programs to help the state combat the spread of diseases such as Swine Flu.