Governor Signs Budget Bill

Gov. Brian Schweitzer has signed the main budget bill he hashed out with Republican leaders.

The Democratic governor is getting closer to wrapping up action on all of the Legislature's work.

Schweitzer has taken his red pen to other portions of the spending plan after he argued that GOP leaders broke their deal by failing to deliver a few small pieces of the budget.

But on Thursday, he signed the main budget bill, known as House Bill 2.

It cuts spending of state tax money about 6 percent from the current two-year budget period and funds government through June of 2013. Total spending including federal money for programs like Medicare exceeds $9 billion.

Schweitzer says Montana is one of the few states that held education funding steady through the recession.