Transit funding still stuck
SPRINGFIELD -- State lawmakers went home Thursday with nothing to show for two days of special sessions but promising to keep working toward an agreement on mass transit aid for Chicago and construction projects statewide.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich let legislators leave but said he would call daily special sessions up until the holidays if negotiations with legislative leaders don't produce a breakthrough soon.
"At the end of the day, in the final analysis, we've got to get a solution for the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority), the Legislature has to pass a solution for the CTA before Christmas," Blagojevich said at a news conference outside his Capitol office.
Lawmakers left town grumbling about being called into special session by Blagojevich only to continue the squabbling that has blocked progress on both issues for months.
Senators met both days only briefly and took no floor action. The House shot down late Wednesday a plan Blagojevich backed to help Chicago's mass transit systems by shifting state gasoline sales tax money.
Downstate lawmakers whose votes are needed for a mass transit bailout refuse to support it unless a deal also is reached on billions of dollars in road, school and government projects throughout Illinois.
Top legislators continue to work out details of such a plan and the massive gambling expansion eyed to pay for it, but those complex negotiations will still take some time.
House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, sent his members home Thursday morning until January, although he cautioned they could be called back to work quickly if a deal emerges.
Rep. Julie Hamos, the Evanston Democrat who pushed for the transit bailouts, urged Blagojevich to keep lawmakers in town until an agreement was reached.
"The members have been quiet for too long," Hamos said. "It really is time for the inmates to take over the asylum."
Blagojevich said he would evaluate his next step after a meeting Monday in Chicago with legislative leaders but said it's vital that lawmakers act by the end of the month to prevent devastating service cuts, fare increases and layoffs planned for January.
The governor also took heat from legislators for attending a pro hockey game in Chicago Wednesday night while the House defeated the transit bill he wanted passed.
He refused to answer questions about whether he should have been at the Capitol, saying he's not a legislator who could vote on the bill and questioned whether House Democrats were really sincere in trying to pass it.
"I prefer to watch a game that wasn't rigged," Blagojevich said.
House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, said the ongoing political stalemate is threatening to cause residents pain if nothing is done soon.
"I think we're all looking bad," Cross said. "It's becoming real for people's lives, and that's the problem and has been the problem."