PROVIDENCE -- In the who-gets-the-credit award category for state budgets that close a state deficit, state Rep. Nicholas Gorham wasn't waiting for the budget to pass.

"You must be dreaming," Gorham, a Republican from Coventry, said this evening on the House floor, if representatives -- or did he mean just the Democratic majority in the Assembly? -- think they get the credit for the budget.

It's largely Republican Governor Carcieri's budget plan the House is considering, Gorham said.

The House was debating Article 18 of the budget as he made his comments. There are some 39 articles, and about 70 amendments that have been drafted by lawmakers wanting to change parts of the budget.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney