CONCORD, N.H.- Following four hours of debate and 20 amendments, Senate lawmakers Thursday ended up approving the proposed $15.4 billion dollar State Budget.

Lawmakers reversed more than $160 million in cuts recommended by the House to mental health and developmental disability services; a move Senate Finance Committee Chair James Gray of Rochester called his committee’s proudest achievement…. saying “We made some tough choices with limited resources.”

Democrats also voiced their support, as Democratic Leader Rebecca Perkins Kwoka praised Republicans for making the changes but noted that working families are still struggling with other parts of the budget, which imposes new health care premiums for some families on Medicaid, raids an eight-figure surplus in the state’s renewable energy fund and fails to include any new spending for housing.  And Perkins Kwoka also said the state’s fiscal problems are due to Republican governors and legislators voting for repeated cuts in business and unearned income taxes that robbed the state treasury of money it could now use to pay for programs.

From here the House and Senate next week will select members to a conference committee who will be tasked with ironing out the differences between the two proposed budgets.