PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Rhode Island House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello says he wants to meet Senate President Dominick Ruggerio to discuss the state budget impasse.
Ruggerio’s office says he is open to a meeting.
Mattiello tells WPRO-AM that he plans to call his Senate counterpart on Monday to set up a meeting. He says he intends to look Ruggerio in the eye and ask him “what he’s up to?”
Ruggerio’s spokesman says “the Senate president will take the call and he is amenable to a meeting with the speaker.”
The two Democratic leaders have been feuding over who bears responsibility for the 2-week-old standoff over the state’s $9.2 billion budget. The stalemate is causing uncertainty in local governments and school districts as state government operates at last year’s spending levels.
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