COLUMBIA, S.C. - The Senate gave key approval to the state's $5.8 billion budget Monday with no debate and no objections.

The harmony is a sign South Carolina's economy is getting better after five lean years that sparked days and weeks of argument over the state's spending plan.

This year, the Senate could be finished with the budget by Tuesday after the bill was given second reading Monday.

Democrats and Republicans alike came to the floor praising a spending plan that fully funds a state formula for per-student spending, gives state workers a 4 percent raise, hires more law officers and pays them more, covers a tax break for small businesses and addresses shortfalls in Medicaid spending. It would take effect July 1.

The bill came out of the Finance Committee with the first unanimous vote in 25 years, said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence.

It was a good spending plan "and the Senate recognized that and the Senate was ready to accept and adopt what came out and move forward," Leatherman said.

"There's nothing more that I see that we can do. We've met the needs of the people of this state very clearly," Leatherman said.

Sen. Tommy Moore, a Clearwater Democrat who announced Saturday he is running for governor, moved to put the bill on a faster track.

"Education funding is exactly what the law says it is supposed to be: $2,290" per student, Moore said.

At the same time, Medicaid service providers will be paid more, which should encourage them to see patients. Law officers and state workers get raises, Moore said. "I think it is a very responsible budget. It is a very prudent budget," Moore said.

There's no effort to rush the budget through, but he wouldn't be surprised if the budget work gets done quickly. Moore said. It could be done as early as Tuesday, Leatherman said.

The Senate's budget does not include many of the small and large things Republican Gov. Mark Sanford asked for.

For instance, the Senate ditched a House proposal that set up a committee to study changing the way the budget is written. Sanford wants lawmakers to use the method he used, analyzing all the activities and programs the state provides and then putting available money into priorities.

The Legislature traditionally looks at what an agency spent last year and decides whether to give it as much or more money the next.

That's not likely to change soon. The "Finance Committee feels like we've got a pretty good process. I think you see that here on the floor this afternoon," Leatherman said.

People probably thought the same thing about executive budgets before "Gov. Sanford really revolutionized the budget process," Sanford's spokesman Will Folks said.

Sanford proposed $160 million in taxpayer savings, repaying $362 million raided from trust and reserve funds and $250 million in new spending, Folks said. The Senate's budget has $33 million in taxpayer savings, $117 million for trust and reserve fund repayment and $516 million in new spending, he said.

"We're obviously having an impact, but with this much new money coming into the state we'd like to be having a bigger impact in terms of trust fund repayment, savings and tax cuts," Folks said.

Speeding through the budget can have other advantages. Dozens of Senate bills face a huge procedural hurdle if they don't reach the House by May 1 and would likely be idled until January.

"I want to give members as much time as we possibly can to get whatever bills they have an interest in out of here to beat the May 1st deadline," Leatherman said.