The prospect of meeting next year's budget by raising taxes -- on cigarettes, sales or anything else -- dimmed Wednesday as the Senate continued fighting over state needs and which ones were and were not negotiable.

The day began with partisan rancor and continued with bickering across and within party lines.

Democrats held a midday press conference to criticize Republicans, who control the House and Senate and who have Mark Sanford in the governor's office. They say Republicans have offered no way out of the unprecedented budget crunch.

"Where are the Republicans who will stand up for education and health care?" said Senate Minority Leader James Smith, D-Richland.

"Where are they?"

Republicans countered that when times got tight, Democrats immediately pushed for tax increases, said state Sen. David Thomas, R-Greenville.

"It's the same-old, same-old story," he said. "What we need to do is tighten the belt."

The state does not have enough money next year to pay for services at this year's level. Consequences could range from state employees paying at least $45 more a month for health care to schools laying off 6,000 teachers to prisons being unable to house people safely.

The House passed its $5.1 billion version of the budget in March, refusing to raise taxes and cutting services instead. The House cut education spending to $1,643 per pupil -- a level that the Senate sees as unacceptably low.

Yet senators cannot agree on how to raise the money for their proposed $5.4 billion budget. So far:

• The Senate Finance Committee abandoned its plan to raise $142 million by eliminating the sales tax cap on cars, among other changes.

• Democratic and Republican proposals to raise the sales tax by 2 cents have failed, though they might resurface later.

• And support for a cigarette tax is softening. Democrats said Wednesday they had little incentive to go along with Republicans on their tax-swap plan -- raising the tax on cigarettes by 53 cents a pack to pay for Medicaid health care in turn for gradually lowering the income tax.

Senators continued budget negotiations until 9 p.m. Wednesday. They spent hours wrangling over arcane rules and their interpretation, which often left senators unable to push items they wanted.

Sen. Verne Smith, R-Greenville, said in his 30 years' service, he had not seen the Senate ever in this big a fix -- over rules and internal problems.

"We need to figure out a way for senators to act like senators, instead of acting like eunuchs."

The Senate is expected to continue debate this morning.