Months of unrelenting Republican pressure forced Democrats to capitulate Tuesday, when they agreed to close this year's budget hole without increasing taxes, Rep. John Rigby said.

Today the House of Representatives approved a deficit mitigation plan, agreed to in principal by Governor Rell and Repulicans. It eliminates nearly the entire current year $350 million deficit.

For months the legislature's super majority Democrats ignored ubiquitous calls for reducing the amount of money government spends, favoring tax hikes instead. Republicans steadfastly opposed that slew of tax hikes - most recently a levy on hospitals, electric bills, and hotel rooms. Throughout the months-long debate Republicans proposed several viable, alternative budget plans eventually squashed by the majority.

As the Republicans sought financial remedies, Democrats proposed spending even more money - including a proposed $373 million spending increase they pushed in March.

On Tuesday the majority's long resistance to the common sense Republican approach crumbled.

"We've seen a majority of lawmakers make decisions opposite of the viewpoints shared by the people who put them here - men and women who want government to make the painful monetary choices they've made," Rigby said, "Finally, we're moving that way. But there's much work to be done."

The work Rigby described is a $750 million deficit for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1.