What’s $4 billion among friends?

The $4 billion amount is a bit inflated, as it includes federal payments to hospitals that might not materialize. The Senate has roughly $600 million in the spending plan for that, and the House doesn’t; whether the money appears will go a long way to resolving that.

But $4 billion is closer to reality than a bottom-line look at the chambers’ budget proposals. The House plan (HB 5001) is $81.2 billion, while the Senate proposal (SB 2500) is $83.2 billion. However, the Senate doesn’t include nearly $2 billion in university tuition that shows up in the House proposal.

Each side received an overwhelming vote in favor of its plan. The Senate Appropriations Committee signed off unanimously, while the generally more partisan House Appropriations Committee approved its blueprint by a 24-2 margin.

Senators were trying to figure out what to do about a proposed $1.3 million cut, currently in both budgets, to the office of State Attorney Aramis Ayala, elected last year as the top prosecutor in Orange and Osceola counties.

Ayala recently announced she would not pursue the death penalty in capital punishment cases, drawing criticism from state Republican leaders and prompting Scott to shift 22 cases away from her office.

“State Attorney Ayala’s complete refusal to consider capital punishment for the entirety of her term sends an unacceptable message that she is not interested in considering every available option in the fight for justice,” Scott said Monday, as he removed Ayala from 21 of the cases.

Lawmakers say the budget cut would account for the fact that Ayala’s office wouldn’t be handling those cases.

But Kamilah Perry, Ayala’s chief of staff, told the Senate committee that her office is covering many of the costs of the transferred cases. And she said the cut would actually affect efforts to combat human trafficking.

“Less than 1 percent of all of our cases are death penalty, so the caseload is not going to be (reduced) that much,” Perry said.