Editorial: It's a critical time for lawmakers to show courage and roll up their sleeves

In the absence of solutions to some of the state's most pressing economic problems, we're left to console ourselves with the hope of momentum. OK, so be it, but let's not lose it.

When lawmakers return to Springfield this week, two prominent issues in need of momentum will be waiting for them.

One is the Cullerton-Radogno budget compromise that stalled last month but still deserves to be approached with courage and a sense of urgency. Anyone can find something to dislike in the package produced by Republican Minority Leader Sen. Christine Radogno of Lemont and Chicago Democratic Senate President John Cullerton, which is precisely why it provides a sincere political framework for addressing the state's budget impasse in the long term. If you're a lawmaker concerned about a particular proposal - we would start with the income tax increase and the gambling expansion, but we know there may be others - refine it. If you want the plan to demand more spending control, as we do, roll up your sleeves and help identify reasonable, if politically difficult, opportunities.

We know they're there, and so do you. We have lots of issues with a budget framework proposed last week by the Illinois Policy Institute - not the least of which is that it ignores political realities that would only prolong rather than solve our budget crisis - but the plan does include measures, like a 401(k)-style retirement option and managing employee costs, that hold promise. No proposal with potential won't trouble some political or special interest. But proposals with potential are there. Find them, regardless of which house you serve in. Get into the spirit of action, rather than inaction, that Senate leaders have launched.

A second topic crying for attention is the state School Funding Reform Commission report also issued last week. It, too, offered a reasonable starting point for producing greater equality and reliability of state funding. Unfortunately, like so much in Illinois politics, it is long on promises - like an ambitious minimum $3.5 billion spending increase over the next 10 years - but short on details. Still, it gives some momentum to school funding reform; don't let it fade.

Last week, Fitch Ratings downgraded Illinois' credit rating to just two points above junk status and said conditions suggest another downgrade won't be far behind. Because the state is spending under court order on the basis of our last budget, we're actually increasing spending against revenues that weren't keeping up before. Our unfunded pension liability - an outrage four years ago at $80 billion - has ballooned to $130 billion. This is no time, lawmakers, to wait to be told how to vote. It's time to tell your leaders what you have the courage to vote for.

With the governor preparing for his own budget address Feb. 15, you have a rare chance to do something bold and constructive. As he indicated in his State of the State speech and again with our editorial board in a meeting last week, he's listening and he's open. And we, the constituents of your district and the citizens of your state, are counting on you. Act. Keep the momentum alive.