<p>Open warfare erupted among Republicans at the state Capitol on Friday, in what was supposed to be the Legislature's final day under the gold dome, making it almost certain that weary lawmakers will be summoned back to Atlanta for a special session.</p><p>In a day of fast-moving events and short tempers, the House voted 163-5 to override Gov. Sonny Perdue's veto the night before of the midyear 2007 budget. It was a rare move of defiance by the Republican-controlled House, which boasted the vote was the first time the chamber had reversed a governor's veto of a spending plan.</p><p>A large delegation of House members trooped over to the Senate to report the override vote, but received a cool reception from Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, who said the Senate would not take up the measure because the House vote was unconstitutional.</p><p>Under the Georgia constitution, the governor must transmit the veto to the House before they can vote to override it. Cagle said the governor had yet to do so.</p><p>"The constitution is very clear," said Cagle, who presides over the Senate.</p><p>House Speaker Glenn Richardson chided the Senate for refusing to act, arguing that the constitution requires the Senate to vote immediately on an override.</p><p>"We're ready for the state Senate to step up as the constitution requires," the Republican from Hiram said.</p><p>As the two chambers bickered over whether the override passed muster or not, a spokesman for Perdue poured fuel on the fire as he urged the House to get back to work on a budget that would meet with the governor's approval.</p><p>"Now that the House is done with their temper tantrum hopefully they can come back in and finish their homework," said Dan McLagan.</p><p>McLagan called the governor said the House veto was "clearly illegal and unconstitutional</p><p>On Thursday night, Perdue vetoed the supplemental spending plan, which included a $142 million one-time property tax break for Georgia homeowners. Perdue said the $700 million spending plan failed to fund critical state spending needs.</p><p>Perdue also criticized the tax cut, which was hastily patched together last week by state lawmakers to resolve a budget impasse. Perdue called it "a late bight quick fix" that was bad for Georgians.</p><p>Perdue had been pushing his own tax cut for retirees for the identical dollar amount as the one agreed to by state lawmakers. That tax cut proposal, the centerpiece of his re-election campaign, was tabled by Republican leaders in the House this year.</p><p>Unless the chambers can agree to a budget fix before the day's end Perdue will call a special session. That would cost about $45,000 a day, according to the Senate Fiscal Office.</p><p>The chambers are also hammering out a final agreement on the budget for fiscal year 2008, which begins July 1. They are also set to take up a host of last-minute bills Friday.</p><p>The budget vetoed by Perdue also contained badly-needed cash to bailout the PeachCare health insurance program for poor children and public defenders.</p><p>Before the vote in the House, Republican leaders talked of the need for the legislative branch to flex its muscles in the face of a governor that is granted sweeping executive powers.</p><p>"We have to matter," said House Speaker Pro Tem Mark Burkhalter. "If we don't matter, the people that sent us up here don't matter. And their voice in this building is diminished."</p><p>State Rep. Ben Harbin, the House's top budget writer, urged his colleagues to unite to reverse the governor's veto.</p><p>"This House must stand together," he said, "because the people of Georgia have elected us to do so."</p><p>Democrats, eager to weaken Perdue, also supported the move.</p><p>"We have got to be able to participate in that process so are priorities are set in the budget," said DuBose Porter, the chamber's top Democrat. "And the only way to do that is by an independent House. The only way to do that is by being an independent House."</p><p>The move puts the Republican-controlled House directly at odds with Perdue, a popular GOP governor who coasted to a second term in November. It's also another sign that Republicans, who gained complete control of the statehouse in 2005 for the first time in generations, aren't immune from infighting.</p><p>Richardson said he understood the awkward stance he was asking fellow Republicans to take.</p><p>"I hurt right now that I'm going to ask you to do this, and I wish you had not been put in this position," said Richardson, the chamber's first Republican leader in generations. "But you have been, and you took an oath, and there's only one thing to do."</p><p>The ramifications of a "no" vote on the override were swift. State Rep. Austin Scott, one of four Republicans who voted against the move, was immediately stripped of his chairmanship of the House Governmental Affairs Committee.</p><p>______</p><p>Associated Press Writers Doug Gross and Shannon McCaffrey contributed to this report.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x1ce0898)</p>
