TRENTON - Drama's always fun - until you're the one falling off a cliff.

That's the way some of the sweat-drenched members of the Legislature - and legislative staff - feel this afternoon as they hammer out the details of a FY2027 budget set to go before the Assembly at 4 p.m. and the Senate at 7 p.m.

Speaker Craig Coughlin's biggest hangup with Governor Mikie Sherrill's budget lay in the provisions at the heart of the StayNJ program. Having hammered out that portion, Coughlin late in the game appears less rattled on the Assembly side than the senate.

What specific details continue to cause backroom haggling?

First of all, Sherrill parked the ceiling of the budget at $60.7 Billion, so trying to squeeze everything under that forms a large part of the conversation. Cutting Christmas tree items or earmarks to make that happen causes hurt feelings, of course, and juggling X-Mas tree itemizations while funding up to the cap she set pits lawmakers against one another and adds more drama. There's also a controversial Medicaid funding bill at the heart of discussions.

Getting all of that straightened out by 7 p.m. and the time when Senate Budget Committee Chairman Paul Sarlo plans to gavel in his committee seems daunting at best.

Voting most likely won't start until 8 p.m.

Even without getting into the budget, several controversial bills threaten - at the very least - to enliven the proceedings, among them the "Polluters Pay to Make New Jersey More Affordable Act," which imposes cost recovery payments on certain fossil fuel companies for funds needed for climate change adaptation and establishes a program in DEP to collect and oversee distribution of those funds."

In addition, a bill that would increase the amount of child tax credit in taxable years 2026, 2027, and 2028 promises discussion and debate; as well as another bill requiring the return of unexpected balances from FY2023, FY2024, and FY2025 appropriations for Hudson County Jail (PTRF), which authorizes supplemental appropriation to Hudson County for general operating aid.

This, too, is prompting some late howling:

Bill A5334:

Appropriates $77,406,208 from constitutionally dedicated CBT revenues and various Green Acres funds to DEP for local government open space acquisition and park development projects, and for certain administrative expenses.

More fun to come.