State lawmakers are gearing up for another budget battle, as Senate Democrats and the governor attacked the Republican Assembly�s plan Thursday.

The Legislature is currently working in a special session to repair a $425 million shortfall in the budget � caused by economic slowdown statewide that put tax collections lower than expected � for the next two fiscal years.

After the governor introduced his budget repair proposal earlier this week, the Assembly leadership introduced and passed a plan of its own within a few hours late Wednesday night. Senate leaders will send the plan to the Joint Finance Committee for consideration soon.

�They just cobbled together a bunch of stuff in the middle of the night and passed it,� Carrie Lynch, spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker, D-Weston, said of the Republican plan. �All they did to manage it was use budget accounting tricks and hide behind broad general cuts that they won�t specify.�

The Republican plan would make $200 million in cuts yet to be specified, for the sake of the flexibility with the governor, according to Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem.

�We�re always willing to work with the governor on finding cuts in state government,� said John Murray, spokesperson for Huebsch. �We thought it was important to empower him as chief executive to determine where those cuts could be made.�

It would also use most of the current �rainy day� fund and push back a payment to school aid by about a week to fill the hole.

Lynch criticized the plan for �drawing down state reserve funds to a dangerously low level.�

The final plan will likely be worked out by a conference committee in a process similar to when the budget was first made. Whether the deliberations will be similarly drawn out, however, has yet to be seen.

�The fact that we came in literally the first day the governor called a special session, put it on the table and moved it forward shows the speaker is committed to getting this done in a timely manner,� Murray said.

Lynch said Senate Democrats hoped to reach out to the Assembly to come to an agreement in a timely manner.

�It won�t get any easier as time drags on, so we�re hoping to have it done within a couple of weeks,� Lynch said.

Gov. Jim Doyle this week introduced his own plan, which is quite different from the Assembly�s and implemented a hospital tax and dipped into the state�s transportation fund to repair the budget. In a statement Thursday, Doyle called the Assembly plan �fiscally irresponsible.�

�Obviously the governor�s goal is to try and get a budget repair done as quickly as possible,� said Doyle spokesperson Carla Vigue. �His proposal was an attempt to spread some of the cuts that need to be made and preserve the state�s priorities � without one person or entity having to take the brunt of the cuts.�