Both the House and Senate Republicans held closed-door caucuses today to talk numbers. The House GOP caucus, which lasted about half an hour, focused on the new revenue recommendation from the Joint Economic Outlook and Revenue Assessment Committee, according to Assistant Majority Leader Scott Bedke, along with housekeeping issues. Representatives discussed the new, lower revenue figure and what it means. "It's a situation that's changing, so all the assumptions that everybody made with the governor's projection are old," Bedke said.

Senate Republicans caucused behind closed doors for an hour, and heard a presentation from Senate Tax Chairman Brent Hill about the impact of the 2006 legislation that lowered property taxes and raised sales taxes. Senate President Pro-Tem Bob Geddes, R-Soda Springs, said he asked Hill to research the issue, in part because of comments from the Senate's minority caucus. "There's positives and negatives about what we did," Geddes said. "Yes, education would've perhaps had some additional money" between then and now, he said, "but now they would be struggling just like everything else is." Senators also discussed the revenue committee's recommendation. "It's starting to sink in how deep the hole is," Geddes said.

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