Jun 1, 2008 6:40 am US/Central
$59B State Budget Approved, Capital Bill Stalled
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) ―
Illinois lawmakers approved a Democratic budget Saturday and went home for the summer, avoiding a long legislative deadlock but leaving behind a spending mess for Gov. Rod Blagojevich to clean up.
The Illinois House failed to pass several revenue measures that would generate the money necessary to balance the $59 billion budget. Without them, the state faces a huge deficit in the coming year -- more than $2 billion, according to Republicans.
House Democrats also sidelined a statewide construction program worth about $34 billion. It would have allowed the state to repair crumbling roads, bridges and schools.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich made a rare visit to the House floor to lobby for the construction plan, but House Democrats refused to go along with the gambling expansion necessary to pay for it.
Some supporters of the construction plan said it was dislike of Blagojevich that doomed the measure.
"We all run into people in everyday life who we don't like and we don't trust," said House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego. "The fact that we don't like somebody is no longer an excuse not to get our work done."
House and Senate Democrats cooperated on the spending side of the budget as they reached an uneasy truce after disputes last year that led to months of gridlock.
They agreed to increase spending by about $2.1 billion for the fiscal year that begins July 1. That amounts to a 6.7 percent increase in the state's main operating fund.
Schools would see an increase of more than $500 million, with some of that going to two dozen schools who have waited several years for construction money they've been promised. The base foundation level of money schools receive from the state would increase by about $225 per student.
Mental health, community care, aging and other human services programs would get millions more. Universities would see an increase of 2.8 percent.
But with the increased spending comes a major problem: how to pay for it.
That's where Democrats in the House and Senate parted ways.
The Senate approved two money-raising options that would generate about $1 billion -- borrowing to pay down pension debt and tapping into money in special state funds. The House left town without voting on either, saying they didn't have enough support to pass.
Lawmakers said the budget wouldn't balance even if those revenue measures had passed. Since they didn't, the official deficit is in the neighborhood of $1.4 billion. And Republicans say Democrats have based their budget on unrealistic revenue projections, so the real deficit could top $2 billion.
Blagojevich will have to decide how to handle that deficit.
He could veto the whole budget and call lawmakers back into session. Or he could be forced to play the bad guy and cut the budget using his amendatory veto.
That would mean he takes the blame for deciding which interest groups have their state funds cut -- a pleasant picture for many lawmakers who have feuded with the governor.
House Speaker Michael Madigan defended approving a budget where expenses overwhelm revenues. He said it's the governor's job to figure out how much the state can afford to spend.
"That's a decision for the governor to make," the Chicago Democrat said. "The Legislature is not involved in spending decisions."
Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago, didn't seem interested in coming back to Springfield and trying to work out differences with the House.
"We have done our job," Jones said.
Republicans complained Democrats were skipping out on making tough budget decisions.
"What we're doing is kind of a shame. We're in debt up to our ears," said Sen. David Luechtefeld, R-Okawville. "I cannot in good conscience go down a road that makes things worse than last year, and there's no other way you can spin it."
The governor and his aides wouldn't indicate what he might do once he receives the deficit-ridden spending plan.
"The constitution is very clear, the Legislature must pass a balanced budget and so if that's what I'm getting, I am looking forward to that," Blagojevich said before the House adjourned.
After lawmakers ignored the new spending ideas he proposed earlier in the year, Blagojevich stayed out of the budget discussions. He instead focused on getting a construction program approved.
The Senate backed the program for road, school and other government construction projects, along with the two pieces for paying for it. One would privatize the state Lottery, while the other would massively expand gambling by adding three new riverboat casinos and putting thousands of slot machines at horse tracks and casinos.
Blagojevich had teamed up with Jones and Republican leaders to pressure House Democrats to advance it to the governor's desk and end a nine-year construction stalemate.
But House Democrats voted 59-52 to table the gambling plan. Without that, the House could not go forward with the construction program, which Blagojevich and his allies said would have created 500,000 jobs.
"These are tough economic times and people need our help. Despite the House Democratic leadership's effort to kill the jobs bill, this is only the beginning," Blagojevich said in a statement.
(© 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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