RALEIGH — A final showdown on the vetoed North Carolina state budget could come next week.
Senate Republicans on Friday filed the parliamentary notice necessary to give them the option to bring up the vetoed budget for an override vote on Monday.
The House overrode Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of the two-year budget bill during an unexpected vote last month when dozens of Democrats were absent.
One Senate Democrat would need to join all the Republicans in voting "yes" to complete the override. The same result occurs if two Democrats are absent. Senate Democrats have insisted they're all committed to sustaining Cooper's veto.
The budget was supposed to be enacted by July 1, but it got waylaid by disagreements between Republicans and Cooper over Medicaid expansion, corporate taxes and teacher pay.
Sen. Phil Berger, President Pro Tempore, said earlier this month that the Senate will adjourn no later than Oct. 31. "There should be no question that should the budget override vote come up, that every member of the senate has been told publicly that they have a choice to make: To be here and vote, or not."
