From what Richards says, it sounds like House leaders are ready to cave in to Senate demands of a state budget without any tax hikes. The problem for Richards might be that 50 house members, most of them democrats, have already voted for a 25 cent increase in the cigarette tax and a tax on some services. Backing down on those tax increases may be good for getting a budget passed but bad for the House members who have already voted for the hikes and won't have anything to show their constituents. Here's my story from today including Richards' comments.