Nebraska lawmakers have given the initial go-ahead to a pair of huge spending bills and while the eventual outcome is anyone’s guess, debate on who-gets-what finds a pair of inner-city lawmakers clearly at odds.

State Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha has been pushing for $450 million out of $1 billion from the federal government’s Covid relief fund, money Wayne wants for a once-in-forever change to predominantly black north Omaha.

At the same time chunks of a hefty state budget surplus are also being eyed by Wayne, but both big pots of cash are also being sought for a number of other projects across Nebraska.

In the end it appears Wayne’s looking at no more than $100 million and quite possibly $50 million.

[View Tuesday's floor debate above]

That finds Wayne and South Omaha State Sen. Mike McDonnell—a member of the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee—the folks who recommend to the full Legislature who-gets-how-much—unable to find common ground.

State Sen. Justin Wayne, Omaha (D): We're spending $30 million in North Platte on a rail project. We’re spending $20 million in Fremont on a rail project. We’re spending $50 million in Ogallala on a lake and…we're putting $53 million in for a potential canal, a potential canal.

State Sen. Mike McDonnell, Omaha (D):  I've been proud of the Appropriations Committee based on this. Of course, everyone has their legislative district they're from but also there's always been the direction from the Appropriations Committee that we are state senators; that we have to look East, West, North, South in this state and try to help all the citizens if we could at that moment in time. 

Sen. Wayne: We're putting $25 million into a university agricultural innovation campus of which the feds have not even given the money yet, that we're supposed to match, $25 million. But I'm supposed to feel good that 110,000 people, 130,000 people, in north Omaha are getting ($50 million) … “Little Negro you should be happy you getting anything”—that’s what Senator Chambers would have said and now I know why he feels that way.

Lawmakers are scheduled to take another swing at that $1 billion in federal Covid cash when they debate Gov. Pete Ricketts’ spending plan, possibly as early as Wednesday.