The big day is here. The Rhode Island House of Representatives will take up the finance committee’s $8.1 billion tax-and-spending plan for 2012-13 this afternoon, with the debate scheduled to start at 2 p.m. – a likely story – and expected to continue for hours.

Most of the buzz is about whether Speaker Fox will be able to beat back attempts to add a tax hike on upper-income Rhode Islanders to the budget proposal. Legislative leaders and Governor Chafee have made clear all along they won’t support that, but many rank-and-file Democrats are queasy about voting against a populist measure with strong labor backing.

I’ll have live coverage of the budget debate on my Twitter feed (@tednesi) this afternoon and evening, and I’ll post a full article wrapping up what lawmakers do after the day’s events are done. And, of course, we’ll have live coverage on WPRI 12 at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m., as well as on Fox Providence at 10 p.m.

If you really want to wonk out, dive into the budget analysis briefings written up by the House Fiscal Office [pdf] and the Senate Fiscal Office [pdf]. This chart from the Senate staff, for example, shows Democratic lawmakers are leaving yawning future deficits:

Update: Well, it was a nice idea anyway. I’ve been pulled off budget coverage to tackle all today’s 38 Studios developments, so no budget coverage from this corner tonight.

• Related: Budget on autopilot gives Rhode Island permanent deficits (June 13)

(photo: Ted Nesi/WPRI)