Coming attraction.
We appear to be on course now toward a legislative floor fight over the University of Nebraska's state budget support for the coming two fiscal years.
That would be a discussion Nebraskans should engage in.
A floor battle is not quite guaranteed yet; the issue conceivably could be eased in the Appropriations Committee over the next few months.
But that seems like a longshot possibility as the committee works to match a sharp decline in anticipated revenue with the university's budget request.
Gov. Pete Ricketts has proposed a 2017-2019 state budget package that the university says would require it to impose more than $50 million in spending cuts over the next two years.
And that, university supporters argue, is draconian and deeply damaging both to the university and to the state, a cut so deep that it would reverse the university's upward trajectory and leave permanent scar tissue.Â
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Sen. Adam Morfeld of Lincoln, whose legislative district includes the university's flagship campus, served notice during a brief floor speech last week that those kind of budget cuts are "entirely unacceptable."
"Cuts are not the only option," Morfeld said. Â The Legislature needs to "find revenue to (help) balance the budget," he said.
There it is: the unspoken option.
Ricketts is adamantly opposed to any tax increases; the majority of the Legislature is philosophically and politically inclined -- perhaps even determined -- to take the same position. No tax increases, no matter what.Â
So it will be an uphill battle, requiring some open minds willing to weigh the counter-argument.
Morfeld says investment in the university is an investment in young Nebraskans, in Nebraska families and in the future of the state. The university is a key element in retaining, attracting and building an educated and trained workforce, spurring the economy and growing the state, he says.
This will be a debate that should extend beyond the Legislature and spread across the state.Â
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A legislative floor fight over the budget would be something new in recent terms.Â
The recent experience is that the state budget is written and settled by the time it emerges from the committee after months of deliberation and debate.
In 2015, Ricketts and the Legislature's Appropriations Committee reached substantial agreement on the current biennial budget. Â
There were no line-item vetoes from the governor, no battles on the floor.
Despite Sen. John Stinner's skill in guiding the committee through its current challenges -- he is receiving high marks from members of the committee -- it's hard to imagine a showdown over university funding not going to the mattresses. Â
The committee's work is essentially restrained by projected revenue estimates.
But on the floor, the revenue base and tax rates and tax brackets and tax exemptions and tax credits will all be on the table.
The fact is that senators can produce more revenue without raising tax rates.Â
The governor and Chamber of Commerce officials are focused on state income tax reductions for small businesses -- a term that is broadly defined.Â
And this year's income tax cut advocates sometimes seem to attach more value to a community college education that trains a skilled workforce than they do to a university education.
Now, some senators are prepared to argue that Nebraska needs both that trained workforce and the workforce created at Hudl and other 21st century businesses and start-ups fueled by a university education.
Showdown ahead.
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Sen. Ben Sasse has avoided Sunday TV news shows until this Sunday when he agreed to appear on .
Sasse was interviewed from Nebraska where he appeared on camera informally dressed on a Sunday morning without a suit coat or tie.
Responding to questions about at a "so-called" federal judge in Seattle and his Fox News interview statement suggesting that the United States kills people just like Vladimir Putin does, Sasse said:
* "We don't have so-called judges, we don't have so-called senators and we don't have so-called presidents...."
* "There is no moral equivalency" between the United States and Russia's Putin.
Sasse described the Trump administration's disputed travel ban executive order as "clunky."
But, he said, "when the president does something great, like he did in nominating Neil Gorsuch (to the U.S. Supreme Court) -- absolute rock star -- I'm going to applaud him."
All Americans should hope that the president "does a good job, that he's surrounded by wise counselors, that he advances U.S. interests," Sasse said.
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Finishing up:
* Shouldn't all high school kids be able to go on Twitter and schedule signing ceremonies when they choose a university? Go for it, build suspense, change your mind occasionally, make commitments and then back off before you make your dramatic announcement.
* John Murante, responding to ongoing legislative reaction to his removal from the Legislative Council's executive board: "The people of Nebraska don't care who's on the executive board. They care that taxes are too high and believe we need to balance the budget without raising taxes."
* Basketball alone in the spotlight now as baseball enters the stage. And Husker football -- to steal a phrase from something that David Landis once said about another topic -- is always with us, just like Cher.