House balks at budget
SPRINGFIELD – Leaders of the Illinois House threw cold water on Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget Wednesday by pushing forward with a plan to cut his proposed spending and ignore his call to borrow billions of dollars.
Local legislators see this as a step in the right direction, but say a sustainable budget still is a long way off.
This time, lawmakers determined revenue first and are in the process of allocating funds, said State Rep. Jack Franks, D-Woodstock, who is working with appropriation committee leaders.
“Quinn’s budget was an absolute fallacy,” Franks said. “It was based on illusory revenues.”
The House plan is different. Education, for instance, would lose at least $200 million under the plan backed by House Speaker Michael Madigan and Republican Leader Tom Cross, compared with gaining $225 million under Quinn’s proposal.
The governor’s proposed budget, built around a major income tax increase, assumes Illinois will take in $33.8 billion in the upcoming fiscal year. He wants to increase spending about $1.7 billion.
Madigan and Cross have settled on a revenue projection about $600 million lower than Quinn’s. After covering various fixed costs, such as pensions, they’re allocating that money to five different broad categories: $6.9 billion for education, $1.2 billion for general services, $2.1 billion for higher education, $12 billion for human services and $1.7 billion for public safety.
Now House appropriations committees are supposed to decide which particular programs get money and which ones don’t. The demand far exceeds the amount of money available.
“Our budget has to be leaner,” Franks said. “For the first time, every line item is going to be discussed.”
Lawmakers are taking the lead in crafting the Illinois budget after several years of deferring to governors wrestling with the state’s financial crisis. The past two years, lawmakers simply gave Quinn huge lump sums to spend as he saw fit.
Madigan, D-Chicago, said Quinn asked for the same arrangement in the upcoming budget, but lawmakers opposed the idea. Madigan stopped short of openly criticizing his fellow Democrat’s handling of the money.
“I think he did his best,” Madigan said. “He did what he did.”
Quinn’s aides would not answer questions on the House action. They issued a statement saying he “looks forward to continued work with lawmakers on the budgeting process.”
Cross, R-Oswego, said spelling out exactly how state money would be spent reduced uncertainty for groups and agencies awaiting state money.
“So if you’re a school district, you know what you’re going to get,” Cross said. “You may not like the number, but at least you can plan your budget.”
A key part of Quinn’s budget plan is borrowing more than $8 billion, with much of the money going to reduce the state’s backlog of unpaid bills. He said state government already owed the money, and his plan simply would swap one form of debt for another while letting Illinois pay all the businesses and community groups that do work for the state.
Many lawmakers question the idea of borrowing that money. Madigan indicated he wouldn’t back that proposal in the House, a decision likely to anger many groups trying to stay in business without being paid. Madigan acknowledged he doesn’t know how much the backlog might be reduced, if at all, under his version of the budget.
“Borrowing is undetermined,” State Rep. Mike Tryon, R-Crystal Lake, said.
Though more needs to be done, Tryon expressed some optimism about the budget process.
“There seems to be a willingness on both sides of the aisle for spending reforms,” Tryon said. “But we’ve got a long way to go.”
• Northwest Herald reporter Brett Rowland contributed to this report.
