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Optimism is waning as lawmakers lose hope they’ll end the legislative session on time.

Budget negotiations between the House and Senate are moving at a snail’s pace. A compromised budget has to be agreed upon 72 hours before the legislature can take a vote. At this point the horse trading is taking place behind closed doors. State Senator Dave Aronberg said he’s losing hope session will end on time with every passing hour.

“I think there is a 60 percent chance we’ll still be here past May 1st, and every hour I’m going to raise it by one percent. So pretty soon it’s going to be a 120 percent chance,” said Aronberg.

In order to meet the May first deadline, a budget deal would have to be completed by next Tuesday to be passed by Friday.