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 At a news conference
Friday, the Democratic governor took questions from the media, after
a week of silence, on nearly all weighty topics moving through the
Legislature. His comments covered borrowing more than $6 billion to
pay off old bills, the state's budget, workers' compensation reform
and major pension changes.
Borrowing
Quinn had strong words for Republican Treasurer Dan Rutherford, who
was critical of a plan to borrow more than $6 billion to pay off the
state's more than $4 billion backlog of bills to state vendors,
Medicaid providers and schools, among others.
"If I were Treasurer Rutherford, I would watch my language. I think
he's really off base there," Quinn said. "We're not going to pay any
attention to him."
Rutherford said that if Quinn signed the plan, he would tell the
bonding agencies not to loan the state the money.
Quinn and Senate Democrats are pushing a plan to borrow the money to
eliminate the deficit, an approach they are framing as "debt
restructuring."
"We want to pay that off. I inherited that from two decades of
failure to pay (old bills). So what we want to do is pay it now, pay
it all," Quinn said.
State's budget
While Quinn said he plans to continue lobbying lawmakers to bring
spending figures in their budgets more in line with his proposal, he
all but said he would veto a budget that cuts education and other
areas he supports, such as human services.
"I have the final word on the budget," Quinn said.
The Illinois Senate and House have passed two versions of a state
budget, both of which are lower than Quinn's proposed spending plan.
The Senate Democrats "are agreeing with the House that we keep the
spending levels the same as theirs, and we're trying to negotiate
with the House, both Republicans and Democrats, on what the
allocation of those spending levels would be," Senate President John
Cullerton, D-Chicago, said Thursday.
The House's budget spends $33.2 billion, $2.2 billion less than
Quinn's introduced budget of $35.4 billion.
[to top of second column]
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Workers' compensation
Hours before the House passed a bill that disassembles the state's
workers' compensation program, Quinn lavished support on a different
plan that would shore up a system being investigated by federal
authorities for millions of dollars in possible fraudulent claims.
The plan would cut
how much doctors are paid to treat injured workers by 30 percent and
how long workers could get the maximum benefit of 66.5 percent of
their average weekly salary.
"This is really a great way to help our economic job climate in
Illinois. Many of our businesses, particularly our smaller
businesses, pay more money every year in workers' (compensation)
insurance, paying those premiums, than they pay in taxes," Quinn
said.
He did not comment on the House's plan.
Pension reform
A plan awaiting a vote in the House to change the pension system for
state employees has been called unconstitutional, and Quinn didn't
deny that Friday. He would not go as far as Cullerton, whose chief
legal counsel wrote a 76-page study stating that changing current
employees' pensions would violate the state's constitution.
"He's entitled to his opinion. This is the first time there's been a
specific proposal, and I think it needs to be carefully reviewed,"
Quinn said.
The plan essentially would swap the burden of growing pension costs
from state taxpayers to state employees. Quinn said any changes to
the pension system must stand up to constitutional muster,
specifically the clause that states membership in a pension system
"shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of
which shall not be diminished or impaired."
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By ANDREW THOMASON]
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