MADISON, Wis. -- Democrats refused to allow Republicans to propose any changes to the state budget Wednesday during a hastily called first meeting of a bipartisan committee created to work out a deal.

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Leadership in both houses of the Legislature said at this point there is no budget deal, but late Wednesday afternoon they created a conference committee made up of four Democrats and two Republicans to work out their differences.

Republicans accused Democrats of negotiating the real deal on the $62 billion budget in secret and calling Wednesday evening's meeting just to make it appear debate was happening in public.

Republican Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said every step in the budget process has been a charade done behind closed doors.

"This is a dog and pony show, to supposedly wipe away all the secret meetings that have been held on this budget, going back to February when the governor announced what was in it," Fitzgerald said.

Democratic Assembly Speaker Mike Sheridan said the meeting was designed to discuss 189 items in the budget that passed the Senate and Assembly in different forms.

There's pressure for the Legislature to pass a budget before July 1 to avoid losing federal money tied to that deadline. On Wednesday, lawmakers said the budget will still get done on deadline.

"Obviously there's a lot of heavy lifting to do to get that done, but that's our commitment and we're going to make every attempt to do that," Sheridan said.

Gov. Jim Doyle is pushing the Legislature to pass a budget by July 1 to help address a $6.6 billion shortfall.

The conference committee is expected to resume at the Capitol at 8 a.m. Thursday.

Senate Democrats are planning to meet at 1 p.m. Thursday, and the full Senate is scheduled to meet at 3 p.m. Thursday.