BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The Louisiana House has backed a $30 billion-plus spending plan for next year that uses federal coronavirus aid to keep programs and services on an even keel despite the pandemic.

The package of budget bills was approved Tuesday in a quick afternoon of House votes rather than the day-long debate of years past. The bills head to the Senate for debate with one week remaining in the regular legislative session. Senators don’t expect to complete their work before that deadline.

Instead, the Legislature is expected to finish the budget in a special session that starts immediately after the regular session ends Monday.

(Story written by Melinda Deslatte/AP)

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