Tuesday, June 29, 2010
 
sponsored by

Gov: Budget details Wednesday

Send a link to a friend

[June 29, 2010]  SPRINGFIELD -- Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn said Monday he will release details about the new state budget on Wednesday.

That's one day before the nearly $30 billion spending plan is set to take effect.

Lawmakers sent Quinn a budget with a $13 billion deficit in May and then headed home, leaving the governor to manage Illinois' finances.

Quinn said there will be cuts, but he hopes to spare schools, social service providers, prisons and the Illinois State Police from the worst of them.

"The decisions I'm making right now are designed to definitely make sure we protect education as much as humanly possible, to maintain our health care safety net for everyday people and to make sure we have good public safety," Quinn said.

That seems to shift cuts to what the governor calls the bureaucracy of state government.

"We're having furloughs for me and for all state employees under our jurisdiction, and we're going to have to tighten the belt as tight as it can be," said Quinn.

Water

State Sen. Larry Bomke, R-Springfield, said it's impossible to balance the state's budget by ordering a few unpaid days for state workers. He thinks anything that Quinn does will only be a temporary fix.

"The governor says he's going to fund human services, education and public safety ... Well, that's 90 percent of the budget. He's probably going to be out of money in about seven or eight months," Bomke said.

Exterminator

Bomke said he believes the budget details to be released this week are just more of the same game that's been played at the Statehouse for two years -- a game he says won't end until after this fall's election.

"It's all politics," Bomke said. "That's what it's all about."

[to top of second column]

Quinn's most pressing political problem, however, is not Election Day. He hasn't been able to convince Democrats in the state Senate to return to Springfield and authorize short-term borrowing the governor says he needs to balance the budget.

"The most prudent course to follow is to have strategic borrowing where the state does the borrowing, rather than hoist the borrowing onto people and businesses owed money by the state," Quinn said.

But Bomke said cuts would be more prudent and are likely what voters expect.

"The general population is having a tough time. People who are not public employees are finding themselves out of a job," Bomke said. "And I think the general population is saying: Live within your means."

Quinn's office said they expect to have final budget details, as final as they can be, by Wednesday afternoon.

[Illinois Statehouse News; By BENJAMIN YOUNT]

< Top Stories index

Back to top


 

News | Sports | Business | Rural Review | Teaching and Learning | Home and Family | Tourism | Obituaries

Community | Perspectives | Law and Courts | Leisure Time | Spiritual Life | Health and Fitness | Teen Scene
Calendar | Letters to the Editor