RALEIGH — The North Carolina General Assembly went home Thursday to begin a July Fourth weekend followed by a weeklong break despite a chasm between House and Senate proposals on the already overdue state budget.

The legislature approved a resolution that essentially shuts down operations at the Legislative Building until July 13.

The previously announced break comes before what’s expected to be a long summer negotiating the two-year spending plan. In recent years, the General Assembly has usually taken a few days off at most around July Fourth — then plowed ahead.

House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, told colleagues they would probably be working for “several more weeks” after the break until a permanent adjournment for the year. Lawmakers need time now to get constituent feedback and spend time with family, Moore said, especially those with young children.

Otherwise, “by the time we adjourn it would probably be pretty close for school to start, if not already started,” Moore said during an interview. The legislature also took an unusual one-week break after Easter.

But more than 30 House members from both parties voted against the summer break Thursday, and a handful of Senate Democrats voted no earlier in the week. They argue lawmakers should press on with negotiations and complete work on the budget, the legislature’s chief annual responsibility. The work session began in January.

“If you don’t put disciplines in that try to push you toward getting out here in July, then it’s easy to skip on to the fall,” Senate Minority Leader Dan Blue, D-Wake, said in an interview.

“Taking a vacation isn’t doing the people’s business,” said House Minority Leader Larry Hall, D-Durham, in a release.

The chambers’ top budget leaders confirmed that negotiations would be limited next week, with the nonpartisan staff also permitted to go on break.

The new fiscal year began Wednesday. A stop-gap spending measure approved this week keeps government operating largely at previous-year levels until Aug. 14. Moore said there would have been no break without that temporary plan, which means the two sides will essentially have one month to work out a budget agreement.

The “continuing resolution” contains money that gives school districts another $100 million to plan for expected enrollment growth even without a final state budget. The fate of teacher raises and funding for potentially thousands of current teacher assistants remain unsettled. The two chambers also disagree on the details of overhauling Medicaid and tax changes.

Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, who would be asked to sign the final budget into law, also has pitched his own proposals on bonds and economic incentives. He cajoled lawmakers to complete their work quickly when they return.

“I’d prefer that no one takes a week off when we have work to do,” McCrory told reporters after a bill-signing ceremony. But he said the Aug. 14 date is better than the September or October date some lawmakers had suggested. Local governments and businesses want lawmakers to finish, he said.

“People are waiting for our actions and are being impacted by our lack of action,” McCrory said.

But Rep. Michael Speciale, R-Craven, said the lawmakers working hard for constituents shouldn’t feel bad about take a little time off.

“It’s time to think about our families as well,” Speciale said.