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Jul 25, 2007 7:40 pm US/Central
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Tempers Flare Over Budget Battle In State Capitol
State Budget Stalemate Sets Not-So-Proud Record
by Mike Flannery
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CBS) ―
It's getting downright ugly at the state capitol Wednesday night. Lawmakers are struggling to end the battle over the budget.
As CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports, there's word the governor may be willing to compromise.
The governor revealed new details of a smaller compromise version of his expanded health care plan Wednesday, which would cost about $1.2 billion rather than $3.1 billion. But on this record-breaking 55th day without a budget, he came in for sharp criticism, too.
"We're steaming in circles, and all we're doing is rearranging the deck chairs while he steams into another iceberg," said Rep. Bill Black (R-Danville).
As Black ridiculed Gov. Rod Blagojevich for his role in the record-breaking stalemate, the downstate Republican distributed black carnations on the House floor to lament, he said, 55 days of legislative overtime.
"They shouldn't complain about having to work overtime," Blagojevich said. "They ought to embrace the fact that they're working for the people that elected them to come here to Springfield, fund schools and provide health care to families."
The governor got a boost from the Senate's public health committee. It voted 7-4 late Wednesday to send to the Senate floor a scaled-back version of the Blagojevich health care plan, despite some strong Republican objections.
"One-point-two billion dollars, when we look at the numbers that means that the average business will pay over $70,000 a year to fund this plan," said Sen. Bill Bradley (R-Bloomington).
"There's no point in working the way we are and working overtime if we're not going to achieve good things for people," Blagojevich said. "And again as I've said, we're not going to leave here without a health care plan."
No fan of the governor's health care plan, House Speaker Mike Madigan predicted trouble for it in the Senate.
"My understanding is he's not doing too well," Madigan said. "He doesn't have the votes in the Senate, and he knows it."
The governor believes that he eventually will have the votes in both the Senate and the House. The big snag, though, remains how to pay for his plans for vastly expanded health care in Illinois.
The state's temporary spending authority expires July 31. Then come the payless paydays for some state workers and likely layoffs for other public employees, including teachers and transit workers.
Though agreement on a state spending plan seems nowhere in sight, Gov. Rod Blagojevich told CBS 2 on Tuesday he's optimistic that important government agencies will not shut down.
"I'll stay here as long as it takes to get a budget that, again, funds our schools at record levels, expands health care and does not raise taxes on Illinois by an income tax or sales tax increase," he said.
Some members of the General Assembly said they are embarrassed that tens of thousands of public employees are facing possibly payless paydays -- or even layoffs -- because of the record-breaking budget stalemate.
"I'm not proud of our still being here," said Sen. Kim Lightford (D-Maywood).
"Proud of it would be delivering a budget that meets education, transportation and property tax relief for the people on the Southwest Side of Chicago," added Sen. Martin Sandoval (D-Cicero).
The governor, though, told CBS 2 Tuesday the only thing worse than this record in futility would be a bad budget.
"We're going to break a record in terms of having the longest overtime session here in Illinois and I take pride in that because I'm not interested in settling for any old budget that doesn't do anything for people," Blagojevich said Tuesday. "Whether we finish tomorrow, next week or next month or however long, at the end of the day it's what we do for people that matters."
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)