Similar Stories to Statehouse Beat: Justice Taking Risk By Calling Session on Bing News

By Phil Kabler Rock, meet immovable object.Gov. Jim Justice is taking a significant gamble by calling the Legislature into special session on the 2017-18 state budget this week without the semblance of consensus from leadership in the House of Delegates. The strategy, as posited here last week, is to get the Senate to pass the Justice administration/Senate leadership budget compromise, and then put the pressure on the House, via affected constituent groups, to fold on its "no new taxes" rhetoric. It's a giant, $4 billion game of chicken, and Justice is counting on House Speaker Tim Armstead, R-Kanawha, and company to blink first. Cynics among us could foresee a repeat of May 2016, when then-Gov.