Update 5/5/17 at 3pm:
Members of the Tennessee House of Representatives have set aside their differences and approved the state's $37 billion budget.
That comes just a day after bickering over the budget exposed a wide gulf between House Republican leaders and their rank-and-file colleagues. They joined with Democrats to cause more than $300 million in changes to the budget, as a show of force.
But House Majority Leader Glen Casada, R-Franklin, said they were convinced overnight to change their mind.
"I mean at the end of the day, those members that voted to spend all this money — bust the budget — realized they couldn't go home and admit that they spent this much money," he said. "And I think common sense prevailed."
The two sides did agree to one big change: County governments will get $55 million more for roads. That money had been intended to be split between the Tennessee Department of Transportation and local governments.
Lawmakers also restored funding for a new Carter House welcome center in Franklin. It had been cut from the budget during yesterday's dispute.
The state Senate is expected to approve the budget on Monday.
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Tennessee legislators have been aiming to put the state's $37 billion budget to bed this week, but it's going to take some negotiation to close the deal.
Lawmakers sparred throughout the day on Thursday. But the cause wasn't the budget itself.
It had more to do with the hard fight earlier this year over a gas tax increase.
More than a dozen Republicans voted last month against the road-funding bill known as the IMPROVE Act. The budget offers them a chance to even the score.
Meanwhile, Democrats say Governor Bill Haslam and other top Republicans are reneging on a promise to put more money into education if they'd go along with the IMPROVE Act.
They've acted out by combining forces and causing $300 million in spending changes to the state budget.
Some of them have symbolic meaning. For instance, they voted to take away $3 million for a new visitor's center at the Carter House in Franklin. That happens to be the hometown of House Majority Leader Glen Casada.
Republican leaders have responded by calling a rare Friday morning session. Casada hopes sleeping on the dispute will put an end to it.
"The members are going home. They're going to think about those amendments they've made. Hopefully they will re-evaluate the extra spending they've put on this budget. Hopefully we come back tomorrow and strip some of these amendments off. That's my desire," he says.
If they don't, Casada has told them to prepare to dig in for the long haul — possibly even returning for negotiations over the weekend.
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