Jun 30, 2009 10:51 pm US/Central
No Budget Deal Will Be Reached By Deadline
Gov. Quinn Vows To Veto 'Half-Baked' Ill. Budget
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CBS) ―
As the clock ticks toward the midnight deadline, there's still no budget deal down in Springfield. Despite a warning from Gov. Pat Quinn to keep working, lawmakers packed it in and went home.
It looks as if the Illinois budget year will end without a new budget in sight, and Gov. Pat Quinn says he won't accept a "half-baked" temporary plan.
Quinn promises a veto if lawmakers send him a budget that fails to balance and slashes key services. There are attempts in the General Assembly, however, to override the governor's impending veto.
If he vetoes the budget plan, paychecks may start bouncing within a week.
In a hastily arranged Tuesday speech to a joint session of the Illinois House and Senate, Quinn urged lawmakers to put aside their political concerns and do whatever is necessary to produce a sound budget.
"These next few hours we have in this fiscal year must not be about our own elections. They must not be about tactical politics," Quinn said. "If this general assembly sends me a partial budget that decimates the social safety net of our state, I will veto that budget."
"The governor's complaint is that he wants more money to spend," said House Speaker Mike Madigan. "The legislature has simply said we're not going to give you authority to spend money where we don't think that money will be available to be spent."
Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock) wants the House and Senate to override any veto from the governor.
"And I also want him then to get to work on redoing how we do budgets in the future because he hasn't really changed anything structurally," Franks said.
The governor said he is prepared to stay in Springfield all summer to get results.
And there were plenty of other signs that this could be a long, hot summer in Springfield.
Chanting protestors blocked Highland Park's Rep. Karen May to enter the House chamber, prompting state Capitol Police to begin making arrests. Eight members of Service Employees International Union were taken into custody.
They're demanding that state legislators raise the Illinois income tax instead of implementing threatened cuts in social service spending.
Protesters are angry that both the House and Senate adjourned leaving behind billions of dollars in budget cuts.
"Until they can come with a fair tax increase that will be sufficient for the children and for the home care and for the state, they need to sit down and take care of what they have to take care of," said arrested protestor Angenita Tanner.
Organizers of the civil disobedience vowed that Tuesday's arrests are just the beginning.
"Our resolve to get arrested to prove a point which is this: We do not appreciate the political games that are played here and we need to pass a fair tax increase," said Keith Kelliher of SEIU.
Quinn told reporters at a Rainbow/PUSH Coalition breakfast at McCormick Place Tuesday morning that if lawmakers send him their makeshift spending plan it will be "thrown right back at them."
He says if that happens lawmakers will be looking at what he calls a "double overtime" session.
Quinn, reiterated his push for raising the state income tax, a proposal legislative leaders thus far have refused to go along with.
"Don't take an aspirin until you get a headache," he said when asked what Illinois residents should expect in his "double overtime." "I'm going to work all day today until we get a budget. Hopefully that happens and we won't have to worry about double overtime."
He said he didn't think he was the problem in getting the budget passed.
"I don't think there's ever been a more cooperative governor, a more civil governor" he said. "But at the same time there is something that I think the people of Illinois want. They want to make sure the common good comes first."
As of now, it appears most likely that the state will have to hit thousands of social service agencies with big spending cuts, and teachers may also end up getting fired.
Closing Stateville Prison and laying off 1,000 correction workers is one part of Gov. Quinn's plan to cut a billion dollars from state government. It's in Will County Senator A.J. Wilhelmi's district and he wants to keep it open.
"I think the governor…I will be the first to admit he's in a very difficult position," Sen. Wilhelmi said. "We're all in a difficult position. Without new revenue, certain cuts have to be made."
Quinn originally called for a hike in the state income tax to plug the $9.2 billion hole in the state budget. The Illinois Senate voted to approve his plan, but the Illinois House voted against it.
As it is, another option is borrowing. The Illinois House recently voted 101-7 to approve legislation that would allow the state to borrow about $2 billion. If the state Senate agrees, legislators say would it reduce the pain of budget cuts but not eliminate them altogether.
The General Assembly also finally agreed to send to the governor's desk the pruned-back budget and the public works program approved about a month ago.
If the governor's threatened veto comes, there won't be a state budget. But it's very unlikely that any vital functions of the government are going to shut down.
Judges are riding to the rescue all over the state. In fact, a federal judge in Chicago issued a court order Tuesday afternoon ordering the state to continue to fund vital services related to children.
CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery, the STNG Wire and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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