Topeka ? The Kansas Senate made plans Tuesday to consider a roughly $400 million cut to state spending because of an impasse over a broader budget plan.

Republican lawmakers control 129 of the Legislature’s 165 seats, but remain sharply divided over how to address the state’s $800 million shortfall, with few willing to vote for significant tax increases. Although a budget the Senate passed in late March would cut in half the gap for the fiscal year beginning July 1, it has not yet been approved by the House and has remained in negotiations between leaders from each chamber.

Tax packages that would make up the remaining $406 million have been largely blocked by conservatives in the Senate who say the budget should be fixed by spending cuts instead. So the chamber will now consider a plan that would close the gap through a 5.7 percent across-the-board cut to all state agencies and schools.

Sen. Laura Kelly, a Topeka Democrat, who serves as the ranking Democrat on the Senate Ways and Means Committee said the proposal was an attempt to call the bluff of lawmakers unwilling to vote for tax increases and was “being put out there as a ‘put up or shut up.'”

Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce, who denied Kelly’s accusation that the proposal is a trick, said the full chamber would take it up but he had not decided when.

The state’s budget shortfalls arose after lawmakers cut income taxes in 2012 and 2013 at Gov. Sam Brownback’s urging in an effort to stimulate the economy. One 2012 policy championed by the governor allowed 281,000 business owners and 53,000 farmers to avoid income taxes on their profits.

Republican Sen. Ty Masterson from Andover, who has led the Senate’s budget negotiations with the House, said there has been “a real disconnect” between the two sides, with the House less willing to make deeper spending cuts.

In budget talks Tuesday among negotiators from both chambers, House budget leader Rep. Ron Ryckman agreed to sign off on the version of the budget with heavy cuts so that it could be considered in the Senate. But he said he would not support the measure if it reached his chamber, where he said it would have no chance of passing.

But some conservative House lawmakers such as Rep. John Bradford say they want to see more cuts rather than tax hikes.

For now, the House is expected to vote today on a separate version of the budget passed in the Senate in March, according to aides for House Majority Leader Jene Vickrey. That plan would still leave a $406 million that would need to be filled, either by cuts or tax increases.

Gov. Sam Brownback released a tax proposal Saturday that would close the budget gap primarily by eliminating most income tax deductions and raising the sales tax to 6.65 percent from 6.15 percent. Revenue Secretary Nick Jordan also relayed to GOP senators Sunday that he would veto any proposal to raise taxes on businesses exempted in 2012 beyond a limited tax he proposed as a part of his plan that would raise about $24 million.