 On Friday, just hours after the Illinois House passed the final
piece of its 2012 spending plan, the Illinois Senate raced through a
22-piece budget that Democrats said trims state spending.The
Democratic plan in the state Senate would spend nearly $34.3
billion. That is about $1 billion less than Gov. Pat Quinn has said
he wants to spend, and nearly $1 billion more than the $33.2 billion
budget passed by the House.
House Speaker Mike Madigan, D-Chicago, said the next step is to
find a common price tag.
"I don't expect that this budget will be the final spending plan.
This is a budget that has been adopted by one chamber. This is a
two-chamber legislature with the governor," said Madigan. "(Senate
President John) Cullerton and I met with the governor yesterday, and
we reiterated our position that is now about 4 months old that we
want to work with the governor, with the budget office, and we want
them to tell us where there should be changes in these budget
bills."
If Madigan expects changes, he's not saying what changes he
expects. The speaker said the governor wants to spend more money
than House lawmakers, but he didn't guess as to what kind of
compromise may be reached. The House did not eliminate any of the
governor's budget proposals but did spend much less than Quinn
wanted.
"We are very anxious to work with the governor," Madigan said.
"Our goal is to adopt a budget that works for the state of Illinois
and for the people of the state of Illinois in a depressed economy.
That's where we are."
The Illinois Senate's flurry of budget-making had Republicans
complaining about being rushed and left out of the process.
Democrats enjoy a much larger majority in the state's upper chamber.
Of the 22 pieces in the Senate spending plan, most of Friday's
attention came to the one piece that did not pass. Republicans took
aim at what they called a backdoor pay increase for some lawmakers.
State Sen. Matt Murphy, R-Palatine, said one line in the budget
for the Illinois comptroller's office, which pays lawmakers, would
boost salaries for lawmakers who head legislative committees. Pay
for Senate committee heads would jump nearly 14 percent. Their
counterparts in the House would see a 47 percent bump for being in
charge of a legislative panel. All Illinois lawmakers earn $67,836 a
year. Leadership posts and committee chairmanships boost that base
pay. Many lawmakers earn more than the base salary.
"You know, again, we have supported per diem cuts, we have
reductions in our own paydays and furlough days. We support doing so
again. I can't tell whether or not that's in this bill," said
Murphy. "I think you're all going to have to vote your conscience on
whether or not you think this bill would actually increase or cut
your pay accordingly."
State Sen. Annazette Collins, D-Chicago, didn't have to wait long
to check what she thought.
"I don't believe in cutting my salary, and I won't be voting for
cutting my salary," said Collins.
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State Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago, said, overall, lawmakers
will be paid less in 2012. She said the General Assembly will see
daily expense payments drop, and lawmakers can expect to have to
take unpaid days off.
"Overall, the appropriation is going down on average for all
members. We're going to be seeing a reduction -- we suspect of
$3,000 if we pass the follow-up bill that deals with furloughs days.
And the per diem is going down as well," Steans said.
The confusion scuttled the pay-raise portion of the budget,
though lawmakers are expected to try again next week.
But if the House budget is expected to change, the Senate budget
is expected to change even more.
Kelly Kraft, a spokeswoman for the governor, said Quinn is
looking at both plans. She did not say when she expects the leaders
to meet.
"We continue to analyze what has come out of both the House and
the Senate," Kraft said. "We're going to work with both chambers to
see what will fit into a final budget."
And, Kraft didn't guess when a final budget will be delivered.
Illinois lawmakers are supposed to have a 2012 budget delivered
by June 1. The current spending plan does not expire until July 1,
but the Illinois Constitution requires supermajority votes to
approve anything after June 1.
Former state Sen. Denny Jacobs said there likely may be a
compromise on the state's final budget, but taxpayers won't know
until everything is wrapped up.
"It is a tremendous improvement over the past, but I don't know
if the results are really going to be any different. We still hear
the same old diatribe of the in-party saying one thing, and the
party that's on the outside saying something else," he said.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By BENJAMIN YOUNT]
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