Senate Republicans yesterday scrapped two Finance Committee hearings scheduled for this week, ending any chance that they will take action on the $851 million state budget deficit.

Senate President Bill M. Harris, R-Ashland, said he won't pass a budget fix without long-term money-saving provisions, such as reforming Ohio's 132-year-old construction laws. Legislative Democrats and Gov. Ted Strickland say they want a bill that deals solely with the budget shortfall, with other issues left to separate legislation.

As the Republican-controlled Senate fails to muster 17 votes for a budget fix, time ticks away on the calendar year. After Dec. 31, state leaders will no longer have available Gov. Ted Strickland's plan to delay this year's 4.2 percent income-tax cut. So far, it is the only major revenue source that legislative leaders have identified to close the budget gap.

Senate Minority Leader Capri S. Cafaro, D-Hubbard, sent a letter yesterday to Harris reiterating her position that the budget fix must be a straightforward bill void of construction-law and prison-sentencing changes.

"While we are willing to work with you to resolve issues raised by your caucus, the complexity and the abundance of issues now tied to (the budget fix) cannot be resolved within the context of this bill," Cafaro wrote.

With only a handful of the 21-member Senate Republican caucus willing to vote for an income-tax plan that they have labeled as a tax hike, GOP leaders want all 12 Senate Democrats to vote for the bill.

House Speaker Armond Budish, D-Beachwood, called it "shameful" that so few Senate Republicans are willing to vote for the budget fix, which is backed by a number of business groups as the best of a host of bad options.

"The budget shortfall has to be filled by Dec. 31, otherwise our kids in this state will suffer severely," he said, referring to the potential for education cuts.

While Republicans want to add provisions to the bill, Budish said his members would like to do the same, pointing to gay-discrimination protection, foreclosure assistance and election reforms.

"We made the decision in the House that rather than be provocative or play politics, we would focus solely on the issue before us, which is filling the budget hole," he said.

Budish, Harris and Strickland are scheduled to meet this morning.

jsiegel@dispatch.com