House Fails to Reverse Blago's Cuts
By Kevin Robinson in News on Jul 11, 2008 1:00PM
On Thursday, members of the Illinois House failed to pay for the cuts in social services the governor made earlier this week. The governor called legislators into a special session this week, asking the House to close a $2 billion budget hole. He did it himself earlier this week by slashing $1.4 billion in programs and services out of the budget. "I'm not going to get in the position of defending the governor, but I don't think he had any choice He had to cut if you're going to have a balanced budget," said House Minority Leader Tom Cross. Blagojevich blames House Speaker Mike Madigan for the deficit, saying “I did their job for them. I balanced the budget.” Madigan doesn't see it that way, however. "I don't attend meetings with Gov. Blagojevich because I've come to the view that my presence in a meeting with Gov. Blagojevich is not productive for the meeting," Madigan said. "When the speaker says he won't sit down at the table, the real losers are the people of Illinois. That's 600,000 jobs that are lost because one person decides he doesn't want to negotiate," said Blagojevich spokesperson Lucio Guerrero.
One increase the governor didn't cut, however, was a pay increase for state lawmakers. A 3.8 percent cost of living adjustment means that Blago will take home $13,118 more, raising his salary to $184,035. Legislators will also see a bigger paycheck. “The whole idea of a [cost of living adjustment] increase is just mind-boggling to me in this economic climate, as bad as it is,” said Cross.
Lawmakers also killed more gambling in the state. Blagojevich wanted the House to approve a broad gambling expansion to fund a nearly $34 billion statewide construction program. "Given the conditions that exist here in Springfield, I think that proposing the expansion of gaming is a dead issue," Madigan said.The loss of the gambling measure puts any construction program in further jeopardy. Madigan also said that he would oppose a post-election income tax hike, but didn't close the door on a tax increase next year. Lawmakers plan to return three days next week as it considers whether it will seek to restore some of Blagojevich's cuts and find money to fill in the fiscal gap.