Blagojevich vetoes parts of budget

Gov. Rod Blagojevich made good on a threat Wednesday and slashed $1.4 billion from the state budget, including $600 million for health care, $100 million for education and $210 million for social service programs.

Blagojevich had complained the $59 billion budget the General Assembly sent him was $2 billion out of whack and that he would have to make substantial cuts unless lawmakers came up with more money. They haven't.

The cuts include $1.2 billion from a House appropriations bill and about $211 million from Senate bills. The governor's office says they expect to make up the rest -- about $500 million -- through belt-tightening at state agencies and reserves.

Blagojevich has blamed lawmakers, specifically the Illinois House, for not passing enough revenue to fund a budget he called "unconstitutional, fiscally irresponsible and dishonest."

"I did their job for them. I balanced the budget. Now the ball's in their court," Blagojevich told reporters, again imploring House members to pass additional revenue measures.

Minus the cuts Blagojevich made, he signed the rest of the state budget into law. The state's fiscal year began July 1 and bills started to come due.

The Democratic governor slashed the money the day lawmakers came back to the Capitol to deal with the budget and give his $34 billion capital construction program a hearing.

The cuts Blagojevich made also include more than $37 million in state subsidies to reimburse transit agencies for free or reduced rides on public transportation for students, seniors and the disabled.

Blagojevich spokesman Lucio Guerrero said cutting the subsidies won't do away with the rides.

"They're still going to do this, they still have to do this," Guerrero said.

Regional Transportation Authority and Chicago Transit Authority officials did not immediately comment Wednesday evening.

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AP Political Writer John O'Connor contributed to this report.