 Still, there doesn’t seem to be much disagreement on where the hard edge of the
impact is landing — on those least equipped to deal with it.
“There’s no ambiguity about who’s bearing the brunt of the consequence, and
that’s people who have the least voice in the political process and who are the
most vulnerable,” said Sen. Daniel Biss, chairman of the Senate Human Services
Committee.
“It’s really a situation that all of us should find deeply, personally
unacceptable and that we need to resolve quickly,” said Biss, D-Evanston.
Tim Nuding, Gov. Bruce Rauner’s budget director, said the governor’s office is
doing all it can, but the burden remains on the Legislature to pass a balanced
budget.
“We’re doing what we can do with tools we’ve been given to manage toward a
balanced budget,” Nuding said.
The panel’s Democrats didn’t warm to the idea the budget mess was entirely on
the Legislature or particularly on majority Democrats.
“I just find it kind of unhelpful and it sort of makes my teeth hurt to hear
this consistent effort to throw the hot potato of blame around when, in fact,
there is no possible resolution to these these problems that exists exclusively
in the executive or legislative branches,” Biss said.
Although he nodded in recognition of Biss’ point regarding a three-branched
government, Nuding said it was disingenuous for Democrats to say the governor
could have simply crafted a workable budget by applying his veto pen to an
underfunded Democratic spending plan.
Rauner’s simply using his power as governor to rewrite certain lines or to
reduce certain amounts wasn’t going to get the job done, Nuding said.
“That’s a myth,” Nuding said, explaining that neither math nor the law nor the
General Assembly as it is now constituted would allow for such an easy answer.
“To sit there and make a characterization that we could have solved this problem
simply with the veto pen — that is just not accurate,” he said.
Well into the third month of its new fiscal year and operating without a budget,
Illinois is spending at a clip that could see expenditures outstrip revenue by
$5 billion or more.
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 The only large piece of the fiscal year 2016 budget made law this
spring was the budget for primary and secondary education.
The rest of the spending is is attributable to continuing
appropriations, such as debt service and pension payments, and to
spending demanded by consent decrees and court orders.
“The courts in many ways are running our government because the
Legislature has failed to pass a balanced budget,” Nuding told the
Senate committee.
Democrats shot back, saying Gov. Rauner has his own role in the
standoff.
“This governor has blended something that has put everybody at
odds,” said Sen. William Delgado, D-Chicago.
The committee also released a copy of a letter from Comptroller
Leslie Geissler Munger, who informed members that state is carrying
a bill backlog of nearly $6 billion.
“In the Comptroller’s Office — even without a budget — we are
currently paying about 90 percent of our financial obligations
through court order, consent decree, statutory continuing
appropriations or non-appropriated funds,” Munger wrote.
The committee also took testimony from several service providers and
advocates for the disadvantaged.
“The hardest part about my job is I have to look into these parents’
eyes daily as I evaluate their children, and I have to reassure them
that we’re going to do everything in our power to help their
children,” pediatric physical therapist Jamie Passaglia told
senators.
“But because of this lack of funding, we’re not going to be able to
do that (early intervention work) much longer, and these kids will
not get better without these services. I’ve seen it happen.”
She told senators she wasn’t asking for “feel-good funding. What I’m
asking is you make an investment in the state of Illinois that will
be returned manifold as these children grow up and become taxpaying
citizens.”
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