Quinn vetoes Doomsday budget
SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Pat Quinn followed through on his promise and vetoed Senate Bill 1197 — the so-called Doomsday budget — Wednesday, allowing the state to start the new fiscal year without a budget.
SB 1197 contained billions of dollars for grants for human service programs, but Quinn had promised to veto it because it would slash funding for those services by 50 percent.
Area legislators were sent home, and now are waiting to return for a special session on July 14.
Rep. Frank Mautino, D-Spring Valley, said he was disappointed with the governor’s veto.
“The budget we gave him had a latitude for spending, and gave him the ability to spend anywhere he needed to plug the holes,” Mautino said. “The revenue was just not enough to cover all the services required.”
Mautino said revenues are down about 25 percent, or about $3 billion, and about 80 percent of the revenues are required for mandatory expenses. The 20 percent left was far less than the governor had requested.
Mautino said more money was found by doing several things the governor asked for, which included refinancing the state’s debt, giving Quinn the ability to sweep funds, and issuing a pension bond note, which Mautino said was not a good idea but better than selling off undervalued assets.
But to give Quinn any more revenue would have required an income tax increase, and Mautino said there just weren’t enough votes for that.
By vetoing the bill, Mautino said Quinn has left no money for social service agencies, and puts the state at risk for a shutdown of services. For example, the budget sent to the governor would have given Gateway Services of Princeton 76 to 78 percent of its current funding.
“It would be hard for them to manage, but it would be more manageable than the 50 percent proposed, or the 0 percent that they have now,” he said.
From the other side of the aisle, Rep. Don Moffitt, R-Gilson, said Quinn inherited a difficult situation after the resignation of Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Moffitt said everyone has different priorities but to drastically cut funding to human service programs would cause some serious problems.
“Cutting these programs doesn’t make the need go away,” Moffitt said. “You have to look at the bigger picture.”
One problem for legislators has been determining the true extent of the state deficit, which has been estimated to range from $7 billion to $9 billion.
“We are clearly in deficit and are not paying our bills,” Moffitt said.
Moffitt said he voted to issue pension bonds which would free up the state’s general fund, and the governor has stated he could free up the budget by a couple billion dollars, but there will still be the need to look at some smaller, across-the-board cuts to all the departments.
As far as any income tax rate increases, Moffitt said that would definitely be a last resort. He would not vote for any increase to pay for new programs or new spending but only to reduce the current deficit. Also, he would not vote for any increase unless it had a two-year limit and was then sent back to the taxpayers for approval.
Sen. Dale Risinger, R-Peoria, said he agreed with the governor’s action as the proposed budget wasn’t good for the state or for social services.
The problem is the Democrats, the majority party, have determined what revenues are available and have decided to short-change social services instead of balancing the cuts throughout the budget, Risinger said.
According to Risinger, there has been no budging or compromising on the Democratic side. Legislators need to determine just how much revenue is available through the general fund, stimulus funds and any other sources and then determine what are the critical areas of need. Cuts should be made across-the-board to secure funds for those critical areas, Risinger said.
According to Risinger, the Democrats want to vote for an income tax increase and then find ways to spend the money.
“That’s unacceptable,” Risinger said. “I want to know where the money would go before there’s any increases.”
Utilities, property taxes and unemployment rates are going up statewide, Risinger said. It’s not fair to ask the taxpayer to pay more taxes in already very difficult times, he said. The people of Illinois are having to cut their own expenses and to watch how they spend their money and it’s time the state of Illinois does the same, Risinger said.
Sen. Gary Dahl, R-Granville, said the current situation dates all the way back to the George Ryan administration.
“It’s too bad we’re where we are,” he said. “We totally ignored the situation until the snowball hit the tree.”
Dahl said he would like the governor to call the legislators back before July 14.
“If I was governor, we’d go back tomorrow and stay there over the Fourth of July holiday,” he said.
Dahl said he didn’t see any effort from the governor or the leadership.
“We have a serious problem, and we all have to jump in,” he said. “They should say, ‘Start with me, I’ll take a 10 to 15 percent pay cut.’”
Dahl also talked about Tuesday’s joint session meeting, and how the governor failed to acknowledge either President of the Senate, John Cullerton, or Speaker of the House, Michael Madigan.
“I’m frustrated,” he said. “It’s totally dysfunctional.”
BCR Senior Staff Writer Donna Barker also contributed to this story.
Comment on this story at www.bcrnews.com.
