From Rep. Barbara Wheeler, R-Crystal Lake:

“While I am pleased that the governor sees the reality of our broken fiscal house, we must now make the bold and courageous decisions that are needed to save us from financial collapse.  Our pension system has over $100 billion in unfunded liabilities, we have nearly $9 billion in unpaid bills, and the unwanted income tax increase is set to expire in 2015.  We are at the brink of our own fiscal cliff.  We must act now; the people of Illinois cannot afford additional hardships in this slow moving economy.”

From Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills:

"I wanted to hear from Gov. Quinn that we're in a state of fiscal emergency. The discussion today was just a litany of special interest liberal programs he wants to pursue, and that's very disappointing. The house is on fire."
 
From Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo:

"I was hoping that he would say, 'Ladies and gentlemen, the state of the state is in peril, and needs to be fixed' ... We have to fix this and that's all we should be focusing on - fixing the pensions and balancing our budget. Nothing else matters. Nothing else matters, because if we don't fix this, nothing's left."

From Sen. Dan Duffy, R-Lake Barrington: