 In 35 minutes, Quinn outlined his agenda for the spring legislative
session, referring to investments in higher education and tax breaks
designed to employ more veterans for his 2012 jobs agenda.
However, he only briefly referenced Illinois' crushing pension and
Medicaid debt.
Higher education
Quinn challenged lawmakers to increase the amount of money
available to students from low-income families as part of the
Monetary Awards Program, or MAP, a grant program.
"While nearly 150,000 Illinois students received state MAP
scholarships last year, ... just as many qualified applicants were
denied because of a lack of funding," Quinn said.
In fiscal 2012, the current state budget, Illinois is on pace to
spend $420 million. Last year, Illinois spent $390 million.
But the state will need to balance more spending in the MAP grant
program next year with the hundreds of millions of dollars in state
aid payments the state owes to colleges and universities.
Glenn Poshard, president of Southern Illinois University in
Carbondale, said his school still is waiting for $86 million from
the state.
But Poshard is quick to say he'd rather see students get more in
MAP grants.
"MAP grants are a direct investment in the students, and that's
fine with us," Poshard said after Quinn's speech. "We want to keep
the door open to opportunity to those low-income kids as much as we
can."
Kelly Kraft, Quinn's budget spokeswoman, said the governor will
deliver more specifics on his plans for the MAP scholarship program
during his budget speech on Feb. 22.
Job creation credits
The governor touted his job creation history: more jobs at
Chicago's Ford automobile manufacturing plant and Belvidere's
Chrysler automobile manufacturing plant, and of course, large
increases in the number of soybeans shipped overseas.
Ford is spending about $117 million and adding 400 jobs, while
Chrysler is adding 400 to 500 workers to build newly designed cars.
Quinn inked a deal with a Chinese company to send 6.6 million
bushels of Illinois soybeans to a processing facility in China.
But Quinn said more needs to be done as he presented his Jobs
Agenda for 2012, which he said will "grow our economy by helping our
employers, our working families and our veterans."
The jobs agenda includes investments in high-tech infrastructure
to build what he calls "gigabyte" communities and investments in
education to have a better trained workforce.
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The governor also wants a tax credit, worth between $5 million
and $10 million annually, to help veterans of the Iraq and
Afghanistan wars find work.
Doug Whitley, president of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce,
which advocates for businesses statewide, said Illinois already has
a $1,200 tax credit for businesses that hire veterans, but it is
underused.
Whitley said he doesn't know why the credit is not more popular,
but Quinn's push to hire veterans may popularize that tax credit.
"We have 100,000 veterans coming home ... and Gov. Quinn is
reminding employers that they need to be sensitized to the needs of
hiring veterans," Whitley said. "I think it was a positive element"
in the speech.
Medicaid and pensions
Illinois two biggest expenses, Medicaid and pensions, were eyed
for reform in Quinn's speech, but he did not elaborate on how that
would be accomplished.
"No reform is easy," Quinn said at the end of his speech. "And
reforming our Medicaid and public pension systems will require real
political courage."
Lawmakers blasted the governor for not offering more details.
Kraft said those details will come in three weeks when the
governor delivers his budget address.
Wednesday's "focus was the vision for our state," Kraft said.
But Kent Redfield, political science professor at University of
Illinois at Springfield, was not persuaded.
"It would have been a little more intellectually honest to
acknowledge what an overwhelming fiscal crisis the state is facing,"
said Redfield. "Even if we really cut down to the core services and
increase revenue, we're still going to have a hard time keeping it
together."
Redfield said that Medicaid spending may be the biggest problem
for Illinois this year, adding that Medicaid is "almost insolvable."
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By BENJAMIN YOUNT]
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