The budget bill for higher education is normally one of the last bills the Legislature acts on before adjournment.
But not this time.
Sen. Ray Holmberg (R-Grand Forks) told the Senate that in presenting the bill, as the House amended it, he was channeling Julius Caesar.
"Veni, vidi, vici," Holmberg said. "To use my vernacular -- we came, we saw, we concurred."
The comment drew laughter from the Senate chamber.
The Senate had earlier passed the bill unanimously.
Holmberg said after the House got the bill, it reduced the $556 million the Senate had approved in general fund spending on the colleges and universities by $329,000.
"We felt, that was not much of a change," Holmberg said. "And you in the Senate have already said you liked what we had done."
The bill passed unanimously a second time, with the House amendments.
The Board of Higher Education had also gone on-record supporting the Senate's version.
Still unresolved is the issue of the "Challenge grants," where the state matches $1 for every $2 raised by college foundations. That's in SB 2030, which is in a conference committee.
