 The override attempt was successful in the Senate, where 37 Democrats backed it,
giving it one vote more than necessary to send it on to the House.
In the House, Democrats put up only 69 of the 71 votes required. Rep. Scott
Drury, D-Highwood, voted against override, and Rep. Luis Arroyo, D-Chicago was
absent.
No Republican in either chamber voted in favor of overriding the governor’s
veto.
The final votes were 37 to 17 in the Senate, with two members voting present,
and 69 to 48 in the House, with one member, Arroyo, listed as an excused
absence. The legislation, Senate Bill 2043, is now dead.
Higher education — including operating money for community colleges and
universities and the Monetary Award Program grants to help low-income students
with tuition — has gone unfunded in fiscal year 2016, which is now two-thirds in
the past.
The Rauner-led GOP and the supermajority Democrats in the General Assembly have
been unable to reach a budget agreement, nor have they been able to come to a
deal on Rauner’s calls for what he considers essential reforms to the state’s
business and political environments.
Debate was sometimes harsh Wednesday as Democrats pitched passage of the money
for MAP grants and community colleges as keeping the state’s promise to students
who most need help to get a college education.
Republicans, however, said Democrats were perpetrating a hoax on students and
taxpayers. With the state sitting on a stack of unpaid bills totaling $7.4
billion, there’s simply no money to cover a $721 million spending authorization,
they said
Overriding the governor’s veto, Republican lawmakers argued, would simply be
putting students and community colleges in competition with human service
providers awaiting payments and even with the state’s grade schools and high
schools. And, they argued, the legislation does little for universities.
“You’re more interested in scoring political points on this than you are in
doing the hard work of solving this problem,” said Sen. Matt Murphy, R-Palatine.
Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, said that wasn’t the case.
“All we’re doing with this bill is authorizing him (Gov. Rauner) to spend as
much money as he thinks he can squeeze out to help out the universities,”
Cullerton said.
House Republican Leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs said the money promised in
the legislation simply isn’t there, and overriding the governor’s veto would
only be a deceitful nod toward funding higher education.
“The public’s been duped,” Durkin said. “There’s $7.4 billion in unpaid bills
that are sitting at the comptroller’s office. This (spending authorization) is
going to the back of that line. It’s just not going to get the job done.”
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Rep. John Bradley, D-Marion, rose to say a community college in his
district had laid off 55 people only the previous evening.
“I don’t know how you explain a ‘no’ vote on this,” Bradley said. “I
stand in support of the override of the veto. Let’s get these
schools funded.”
Rep. Jeanne Ives, R-Wheaton, said the state must get control of
spending and actually balance the overall budget.
“Until we address pension reform, we’re never going to address the
main problems with our budget,” she said. “You cannot spend 25
percent of general revenues on pensions and expect to be able to
fund everything else.”
“On higher education, let’s be clear here,” Ives said. “We spend as
much as for higher education pensions as we do for higher education
operational costs.”
Drury, the lone Democrat not to support the override motion, said
members from both parties need to stop taking votes to make
themselves feel good or to include in their campaign literature.
He argued rank-and-file lawmakers must look for a true solution to
the budget deficit and the impasse or admit to themselves they are
only allowing their respective party leaders to keep the stalemate
going for their own purposes.
“As long as there is no pressure … they are empowered to keep this
impasse going. And they have done that since June,” he said.
“The answer is to stop empowering this leadership that keeps
thrusting this upon us, because if we don’t give them an out, we can
get a solution,” Drury said.
“We have to be accountable,” Drury said. “We have to do our jobs, we
have to have courage, (and) we have stop being wimps.”
After the House vote, Rauner’s office issued a statement urging
lawmakers to stay in Springfield and work out a compromise to fund
higher education.
“Despite the governor’s request that the General Assembly not waste
time with a political vote that was never going to pass, the
legislature is poised to leave students, universities and community
colleges in the lurch for at least a month,” said Catherine Kelly,
the governor’s press secretary.
“We continue to urge Democratic leaders not to recess until the
General Assembly passes a bipartisan proposal to fund MAP and higher
education,” Kelly said.
Later Wednesday evening, Steve Brown, spokesman for House Speaker
Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, said a proposal will be put forward.
He said forthcoming amendments to existing bills contain “an agreed
funding source and appropriations for higher education, MAP and a
number of human service programs at the same level as was approved
by the legislature in May 2015.”
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