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The House has been debating the state budget for seven hours now. Perhaps the most notable aspect of the debate so far is the relative lack of acrimony.

House members have finished debating the Article II section of the budget, which covers all health and human services—usually an area of fierce argument on the floor about funding for Medicaid and Planned Parenthood among many other programs.

But not so today.

The floor fights have been few and far between. We hear that House members on the left and right have struck a truce and agreed to pull down their most controversial budget amendments.

That includes Panhandle Republican Warren Chisum’s proposal to de-fund Planned Parenthood. Chisum’s amendment had family family planning providers worried. But the amendment never came up.

Leo Berman, the Tyler Republican, did bring forth two amendments aimed at illegal immigrants. One would have instructed state health officials not to issue birth certificates to children of illegal immigrants (who, under current law, are U.S. citizens). Berman also tried to tax money transfers sent from Texas back to Mexico, and Central and South America. Both of Berman’s amendments were shot down on points of order because they changed state law, which isn’t allowed during the budget debated.

Central Texas Democrat Patrick Rose passed an amendment that delays implementation of one of the state’s most infamous boondoggles: the TIERS computer system, which is supposed to help enroll Texans in public programs. The system has swallowed hundreds of millions of public dollars and still doesn’t function properly. 

The House will be debating the budget deep into the night. Updates to come.