Senate Democrats present plan to borrow to pay state bills
SPRINGFIELD — Saying the state is already borrowing money from the schools and health care providers they owe billions of dollars, Senate Democrats Wednesday renewed their push to borrow money from banks to pay down those unpaid bills.
But Democrats need votes from Republicans to get their way. And the GOP has loudly resisted borrowing for months.
“I think we’ve borrowed all the money we can borrow,” said Rep. Michael Tryon, a Crystal Lake Republican. “Look at our surrounding states. They are not taking out the credit card to balance the budget. We’ve been doing this for way too long.”
Sen. John Sullivan, a Democrat from downstate Rushville, said he’s trying to meet with Republicans and ease their opposition. “I think it’s a responsible thing to do,” Sullivan said.
His plan would have the state borrow about $6.1 billion to pay down the state’s unpaid bills. Then, the loans would be paid off with money from the income tax increase over the next seven years.
“This is not new debt,” Sullivan said. “This is money that we owe and we need to pay our bills and this is a responsible plan to do that.”
It’s an idea that’s been pushed by Gov. Pat Quinn in particular all year, but he’s seen no success as the GOP has held strong in its opposition.
To pass, borrowing legislation needs 60 percent support from each House. Democrats control the House and Senate, but don’t have that many members. So they need Republicans.
“I’ve been working closely with my colleagues on the other side, trying to answer their questions,” Sullivan said.
The plan was broken down into four different proposals, Sullivan said, to give Republicans an option to choose some of the plan, but not all.
Sen. Matt Murphy, a Palatine Republican, said “borrowing is simply not going to happen in this session,” noting “one out of every $11 were going to spend in FY12 is going to pay off old bills, so it’s time to turn off the spigot.”
In the meantime, House and Senate budget leaders are meeting to try to reconcile the competing budget plans each chamber approved earlier this month.
Rep. Fred Crespo, a Hoffman Estates Democrat, said the House doesn’t want to spend more money, as the Senate plan does.
But, he said, House lawmakers might be willing to cut deeper from some general state government operations in order to send more money to pay for care for the disabled, elderly and poor.
Democrats are facing a Tuesday deadline to get a budget sent to Gov. Pat Quinn before they need votes from Republicans.
Sullivan, who has served as a past appropriations committee chair, indicated that the Senate’s spending plan is likely to get smaller.
Ÿ Daily Herald staff writer Jeff Engelhardt contributed to this report.