State budget negotiations, which have dragged past the July 1 start of the North Carolina fiscal year, are expected to run for weeks to come, lawmakers said Thursday. And while delays in the budget process aren’t unusual, rarely have they happened with as much at stake.

In addition to run-of-the-mill debates on issues like how much of a raise state employees should get, Republican legislators are also debating whether this new budget should be used to legalize casinos across the state. And as those and other debates hold up the budget negotiations, Medicaid expansion remains on pause. Although lawmakers did approve that earlier this year, they tied its fate to the budget’s passage.