NEW YORK, NY March 12, 2008 —This week, both the Senate and Assembly plan on rolling forward with their proposed versions of the state's difficult budget.

State Senator Bill Perkins, who represents Harlem, says Gov. Eliot Spitzer's current status is untenable.

PERKINS: For the sake of the people in my district and throughout the state who are really suffering, for whom this is no joke - we've got to get this settled sooner than later because we can't take care of the people's business.

REPORTER: Perkins says that Lt. Governor David Paterson, who spent 20 years in the Legislature, is a consensus builder ready to take over what Perkins called "a ship wreck."

Even veteran conservative Republican legislators said they had full confidence in Paterson's ability to assume the governorship should Spitzer resign.

The state faces an April 1 budget deadline, a task made harder by a declining economy, softening revenues and rising fuel costs.

For WNYC, I'm Bob Hennelly.