A the New Hampshire Union Leader column recounts how the budget fight turned into a last-minute rescue, with House Majority Leader Jason Osborne pulling together a fractured Republican caucus to pass the budget trailer bill. The final package eliminated the income tax on interest and dividends, lowered property taxes by $100 million, and created a new education choice program. The account describes a leader working the chamber vote by vote to get there.
The path to passage came down to retail persuasion, member by member, the New Hampshire Union Leader reports.
How did Osborne and Co. pull it all together? One member at a time.
the New Hampshire Union Leader
Rep. Marjorie Moore summarized what the budget delivered for taxpayers, according to the New Hampshire Union Leader.
In the end, only nine House Republicans opposed the trailer bill.
the New Hampshire Union Leader
When the final tally came in, Republican opposition had nearly disappeared, the New Hampshire Union Leader reports.
The trailer bill nearly collapsed before the turnaround, according to the New Hampshire Union Leader.
At the beginning of last week, the controversial trailer bill ( HB 2 ) to the two-year state budget was a dead man walking.
the New Hampshire Union Leader
When the dust settled, the GOP rift had narrowed sharply, the New Hampshire Union Leader reports.
In the end, only nine House Republicans opposed the trailer bill.
the New Hampshire Union Leader
The column traces a turnaround that began with the trailer bill on life support and ended with the House passing it after Osborne worked the chamber member by member. The final budget eliminated the interest and dividends tax, lowered property taxes by $100 million and created an education choice program supporters described as a potential model for the nation, the New Hampshire Union Leader reports.
By the time the vote was taken, the once-doomed measure had recovered enough Republican support to clear the chamber with only a handful of defections. Conservatives pointed to emergency powers reforms they had sought all year as part of what the agreement secured, the New Hampshire Union Leader reports.
Conservatives credited the outcome to leadership that held the caucus together at a decisive moment, the New Hampshire Union Leader reports. The episode became a case study in how a leader can revive a stalled priority by holding a fractured caucus together at the last moment.
Read the full story at the New Hampshire Union Leader.
