Caucus Chair Peter Barca warned fellow Assembly Dems they had a long day ahead of them as today's meeting got underway.

Barca said the plan was to meet in closed caucus for about two hours to discuss budget amendments before breaking for lunch and to allow time for drafting. Dems will then come back in open caucus to vote on the amendments.

Barca also said the two-hour guess for closed caucus was dependent upon members keeping their remarks brief as he said they largely did yesterday during caucus.

To lighten things up, Rep. Jen Shilling, a member of JFC, read a spoof of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" that she wrote. It was "'Twas the Week of the Budget." It included a line that Dems met "with hopes that 50 votes would soon be there."

See Shilling's poem here.

-- By JR Ross