House Dem Leader Meets in Indy with GOP Speaker

The leader of the boycotting Indiana House Democrats and the Republican House Speaker are talking in a meeting that may signal improving relations surrounding a weeklong Statehouse standoff.

House Minority Leader Patrick Bauer drove from Illinois to Indianapolis to meet with House Speaker Brian Bosma in Bosma's Statehouse office Wednesday. Most House Democrats have been staying in Urbana, Ill., since last Tuesday when they began boycotting the House to derail labor and education bills they oppose by denying the House the quorum it needs to conduct business.

The meeting is a step toward a possible resolution. But it's unclear exactly what might end the impasse. Bauer says he wants to negotiate, but Bosma says he won't cut a back room deal or take GOP proposals off the table.

Bauer has repeatedly said he wants to negotiate on GOP-proposals that Democrats consider an assault on the middle class. And Bosma has repeatedly said he'll talk to Bauer, but won't negotiate a back room deal or agree to take GOP proposals off the table.

Republicans are already planning changes to a private school voucher bill that Democrats oppose. The bill would use taxpayer money to help parents send their children to private schools. Bosma said the bill needs to be changed to get enough support from his own caucus to pass, and Republicans will introduce an amendment limiting the number of students who can participate in the program and adding more restrictive income level requirements. Bauer said Tuesday that those changes were a good step forward.

The Democrats' boycott has already killed a "right-to-work" bill that would have prohibited union membership from being a condition of employment. Republicans say they won't try to resurrect that proposal this year. Bosma says he will not allow the boycott to kill other bills and plans to extend legislative deadlines to keep the other proposals on the House calendar alive as long as necessary.