Begin an earnest budget conversation
Daily Herald Editorial Board
They don't mean to be prophets of doom. Or maybe they do. But Senate Republicans say Illinois doesn't have to be $22.7 billion in debt five years from now, as they predict will happen if Gov. Pat Quinn's budget plan is followed.
Their outline of $6.7 million in spending reductions and other initiatives would allow the state to roll back the income tax increase as scheduled and put the state on a path to recovery. Their intention, the GOP budget experts told our editorial board this week, is to engage the Democrats in a conversation that leads to a “reality-based” budget.
If there ever were a moment of truth, this is it. Illinois is headed toward financial ruin. The Democrats simply must get serious about a dialogue.
After last week's release of the detailed, multipronged approach to bringing spending under control, Democratic Senate President John Cullerton offered his congratulations quickly, though backhandedly. “It's nice to hear them say something other than ‘no.' . . . I hope that this is just the beginning.”
Indeed, Senate Republicans think it is, and they're promising the votes to back it. Finally, it appears there's someone in Springfield taking steps toward erasing the deficit instead of adding to it. To their credit, Democrats on the appropriations committee, headed by Sen. Dan Kotowski of Park Ridge, are using data from state agencies to determine where programs could be cut. That's a hopeful sign.
But the test will be whether the sides come together. Those in control have abdicated their responsibility for years, while lessons of past budgeting sessions continue to be ignored. Lawmakers repeatedly throw up their hands, buckling under the pressures of special interests and political expediency by handing the governor a mess.
When will it stop? The General Assembly's session hits its midpoint this week, leaving just weeks to produce the next plan, and it's too late in the game for rhetoric or, worse, silence. If negotiations don't start early enough, lawmakers will be left with no time to respond before the vote comes up. The Illinois budget deadline is May 31. Where will our elected representatives be that evening? Frantically debating another flabby, debt-inducing budget, or back in their homes, comfortably reading in the news about a state moving forward?
Republicans have played a hand that's not perfect, and it's certainly not pretty. It includes pension reform that could lead to a lawsuit. It also targets education, human services other programs near and dear to many people.
But contrast that with Quinn's proposal. He wants to borrow on top of the tax increase, which solves nothing if not accompanied by reductions such as those outlined by Republicans. His budget came with a challenge to any who wanted to show where to cut. The Democrats have been too quiet. Republicans are talking.
Step up the dialogue now.