The Louisiana Legislature is quickly becoming a carbon copy of the U.S. Congress that can’t get much done. That is because of the friction between the Republican-controlled U.S. House and the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate.

Republicans control both houses of the state Legislature by a two-thirds margin, but there have always been disagreements over policy between the House and Senate. Another one has surfaced during the current fiscal session.

In Washington, Republicans in the House want Democratic President Joe Biden to agree to spending cuts in return for raising the debt ceiling. In Baton Rouge, GOP conservatives say they don’t favor raising the state spending limit, but Senate President Page Cortez, R-Lafayette, thinks it’s the right thing to do.

The disagreements in Congress and in the Louisiana Legislature have been detailed in two news reports by The Advocate.

The newspaper said U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, R-Baton Rouge, has suddenly become “the tip of the spear in Republican maneuvers to force President Joe Biden to negotiate spending cuts in return for raising the debt ceiling.”

In Baton Rouge, conservatives in the House want to use surplus funds to retire pension debt or set them aside for the future. That, in effect, defies the plans of Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards and Cortez to use those surplus funds for new roads and bridges and other one-time expenses.

Here’s the problem:

Legislators have some $1.1 billion in surplus funds in the current year and another $726 million from last year to spend on one-time expenses. However, if that spending limit isn’t raised, they can only spend $460 million more in the current year and $500 million more in the next year.

Cortez is sponsoring Senate Concurrent Resolution 3 that raises the spending limit this year from $15.9 billion to $16.7 billion. It would raise the spending limit next year from $16.5 billion to $17.3 billion. The resolution is scheduled to be debated today in the Senate Finance Committee.

House conservatives numbering 42 oppose raising the limit and those are enough members to prevent getting the two-thirds vote necessary. A newly formed Louisiana Freedom Caucus, another copycat move from  Congress, is also opposed.

Rep. Blake Miguez, R-New Iberia, and chairman of the House Republican Caucus, wants to put the surpluses into a special fund to spend under a future GOP governor, which could be as early as next year.

Some Republican conservatives want to pay off retirement debt, which they say would free up extra money so local school boards instead of the state could give teacher pay raises.

Although local school boards haven’t responded to that suggestion, the odds are many of them won’t like it. And you can bet teachers believe a state pay increase is better because every teacher will get one.

Edwards has proposed in his budget that teachers get a $2,000 state raise and another $1,000 if extra funds are available. School support workers would also get increases.

The Advocate said the Public Affairs Research Council and other good-government groups urge spending the one-time money on one-time expenses. Edwards and Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne want lawmakers to use the surplus funds for coastal restoration, road and bridge projects and hurricane debts owed to the federal government.

Those plans also have the support of Cortez and others who say breaking the spending cap allows only one-time spending that won’t grow government spending in the long run.

History has shown that the state House and Senate have survived many disagreements in the past and the Senate has often been the most reasonable body. We will find out today how many senators other than Cortez also favor the governor’s proposed spending plan when the Finance Committee votes on raising the spending cap.

Citizens expect to see their elected representatives disagree, but they also expect them to compromise in order to get things done. That isn’t happening in Washington and it’s beginning to happen in Baton Rouge.

GOP leaders in Washington, and Graves and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Jefferson are two of them, want Biden to cut $4.5 trillion of national spending on Medicaid, his clean-energy initiatives, and other priorities.

In exchange, Republicans would raise the debt ceiling so the government could borrow an additional $1.5 trillion this summer. That would raise the country’s debt ceiling to $31.4 trillion. However, Biden won’t discuss budget cuts until Congress raises the debt limit.

Somewhere in this tug-of-war in Washington and Baton Rouge there has to be compromise, but agreements have become extremely rare these days.