Stalemate slows down regular life
SPRINGFIELD -- Usually reserved and soft-spoken, Sen. Terry Link recently let his frustrations spill over on the Illinois Senate floor, challenging fellow lawmakers to end a year of bickering and get to work on a long list of unfinished business.
"It's time to do it," Link fumed.
But the Senate adjourned soon after without even setting a date to return.
All year, work at the state capitol has been stalled by clashing personalities and conflicting policy goals. Although some of the disputes don't matter much in everyday life, many are holding up progress on roads, schools, taxes and other issues that affect the quality of life in Illinois.
Among the biggest are finding money for Chicago-area mass transit systems used by hundreds of thousands of people and for a statewide construction program to build new roads, schools and bridges.
The Chicago Transit Authority plans to raise fares, slash bus routes and lay off workers Nov. 4 -- followed by much deeper cuts in January -- if it doesn't get an infusion of new cash. Suburban commuter trains and buses would see cuts, too.
The cuts would complicate life for people who depend on public transportation to get to work and school. For some, it would be an inconvenience. For others, it would mean higher expenses and longer days to reach low-paying jobs.
One proposal to come up with extra transportation money would raise sales taxes on Chicago area residents. Gov. Rod Blagojevich has threatened to veto any tax increase, saying it would be wrong to take the money from people.
Supporters, however, see the sales tax as the simplest, most realistic solution.
"To do anything else is very complicated," said Sen. John Cullerton, a Chicago Democat. "We better start working on that right away."
Another way to get the money would be to expand gambling in Illinois -- adding new casinos, letting existing casinos grow, maybe putting slot machines at race tracks. Blagojevich backs this plan, although critics fear gambling expansion would generate more addiction and crime.
Complicating the mass transit issue is an attempt to link it to construction money.
Many Republican and downstate lawmakers say they won't approve transit money until officials resolve funding for billions of dollars in new road, school and government construction projects.
The pressure on construction projects continues to grow: lawmakers haven't approved a new plan in years, roads and bridges continue to deteriorate and dozens of schools are awaiting cash for new or rehabilitated buildings.
A major gambling expansion approved by the state Senate would provide money for both mass transit and construction, but the House is balking. It may instead back a more modest expansion, such as putting a casino in Chicago and slot machines at horse racing tracks.
A separate dispute is holding up money for education and a long list of other services.
Legislators approved a state budget over the summer, but they haven't passed the budget implementation bills, or "BIMPs," that spell out how the money is to be spent. Without them, state agencies basically have to follow last year's spending plan.
Schools warn they can't tap into $550 million in extra money lawmakers approved until the education BIMP is passed. More than 700 school districts would receive less state money starting in November than they get now, state schools Superintendent Christopher Koch wrote in a recent letter.
The Blagojevich administration has said it could lay off as many as 1,800 of 2,000 State Police troopers if the BIMP issue isn't resolved because their salaries are paid out of a separate state fund than most other employees.
Lawmakers promise they won't let that worst-case scenario happen but acknowledge frustration is building.
Normally, BIMPs are passed as a formality along with the budget. But this isn't a normal year. The Illinois House is refusing to pass them until another issue is resolved -- Blagojevich's vetoes of $463 million from the budget lawmakers sent to his desk.
The cuts hit legislative construction projects Blagojevich calls pork along with funding for a veterans home in LaSalle, security upgrades at a community college and aid for after-school and gun violence prevention programs.
Blagojevich says some of the spending is wasteful and some is just unaffordable right now.
The House voted to restore about $420 million of those cuts, but the Senate has refused to go along so far. Senate leaders say they want to restore more cuts but that will take time.
In the meantime, veterans, social service agencies, union employees and others wait to see the fate of their cuts and the budget implementation bills held up in the disputes.
"Quite frankly, this is a disgusting situation," Rep. Rosemary Mulligan said recently. "This is the biggest pile of baloney this year I have ever seen in my life."