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* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
Illinois Senate President John Cullerton has been telling some of his members for weeks that he was resigned to an overtime session.
The General Assembly likely wouldn’t be able to adjourn by the scheduled May 31 deadline, there was just no getting around it, so people should just accept it and move forward, he said.
But then Cullerton (D-Chicago) reportedly came to the conclusion that if the spring session did go into overtime, the Republicans would likely keep everyone bottled up in Springfield all summer long. So, now his focus is on getting everybody out of town by the end of May.
May 31 is an important deadline because all bills voted on after that date will require a three-fifths majority to pass rather than a simple majority. That means no budget can be approved, no Medicaid solution can be found, no pension systems can be reformed without a three-fifths supermajority.
The Democrats control both legislative chambers, but they don’t have three-fifths of the votes in each. They’re seven votes shy in the House and one vote short in the Senate. One vote may not seem like a lot, but partisanship can sometimes get so intense in the General Assembly that one vote might as well be 100.
Cullerton has been hoping for bipartisan agreement on the three major and gut-wrenching issues facing the Legislature — Medicaid, pensions and the budget. And even though the Republicans deny it, Cullerton has come to the conclusion that the GOP is stalling everything to push the session into overtime to try to create as much political chaos as possible.
The majority party always takes the blame for overtime sessions, so tying up vulnerable Democratic incumbents in an unpopular and chaotic overtime session would further damage the Dems’ image and prevent members from walking precincts and going to events back home.
When I asked Cullerton about a Senate Republican demand that the state budget be cut far more than it was in a bipartisan agreement in the House, he shot back that “it’s just an excuse to vote ‘no.’ ”
The House approved that agreement, which limits state operational spending to $800 million below the revenue forecast, by a lopsided 91-16 vote in late March. But Senate Republicans want that spending limit lowered by another $1.4 billion.
State Sen. Matt Murphy (R-Palatine), a GOP budgeteer, picked up sponsorship of the House spending cap resolution March 30, the day it passed the House. But Murphy has refused to call the measure for a vote in committee.
Committee chairman Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) asked Murphy whether he was prepared to move the resolution. Murphy’s umpteenth refusal prompted Democrats to demand that the Republicans “move their other budget recommendations in a bill.”
The fight over the House spending resolution is an important piece of evidence that Cullerton sees as proving the Republicans want to force an overtime session.
The Democrats don’t have enough votes to pass legislation on those big issues on their own right now, when bills only require a simple majority.
Steep budget cuts, slashing Medicaid and whacking union members’ pensions are not appealing to most Democrats. So they need the Republicans on everything.
Murphy admitted last week that his caucus knows the Democrats can’t pass a budget by themselves, so the Republicans are using their leverage to maximum advantage to force more spending cuts. Murphy also refused to make any significant budget proposals of his own, saying they should be negotiated.
Murphy said the proposed $2.2 billion in cuts would put the state on track to balance the budget by the time the temporary increase in the state income tax expires.
But Cullerton and the Democrats maintain that the Republicans just want to create chaos with a long and nasty overtime session that they can exploit for partisan advantage this fall.
Both sides are probably right. That gives me no comfort at all.
Discuss.
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, May 14, 12 @ 8:34 am
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That’s right, the democrats have had complete control for 10 years, and the fact they turned this into one of the worst state’s in the country and can’t fix all the prolems in the next 17 days is the republican’s fault.
Comment by the Patriot Monday, May 14, 12 @ 8:46 am
Wow creating a partisan advantage that can be exploited in the fall elections. Cullerton needs to look in the mirror a bit more often.
Comment by Fed up Monday, May 14, 12 @ 8:47 am
Hmmmm, isn’t this always a Republican goal? It seems to not get them anywhere though.
On the other hand, could there be a possible return of the “overtime in hell” merchandise if there is an overtime session?
Comment by Levois Monday, May 14, 12 @ 9:19 am
–But then Cullerton (D-Chicago) reportedly came to the conclusion that if the spring session did go into overtime, the Republicans would likely keep everyone bottled up in Springfield all summer long.–
I’m not so sure. What, if anything, would Republicans want that could pass in an overtime session?
For years, they’ve said “more cuts,” but cut a high school rodeo or close down an underused state facility and they go apey. I doubt they actually want to do anything more.
Comment by wordslinger Monday, May 14, 12 @ 9:22 am
I don’t know why the Republicans would want a summer session. That would force them to actually vote for the cuts or have the tables turned on them and they could be blamed for stalling. I think they might actually be playing into the Democrats hands and not even realizing it.
Comment by Ahoy! Monday, May 14, 12 @ 9:23 am
== one of the worst state’s in the country ==
Really? Check most business/economic climate/livability indexes of states lately and you’ll find Illinois ranked generally in the middle or higher. States that dominate the lower 10-20% of those rankings - see Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma, South Carolina, for example - are run by GOP politicians. And comparisons of economic mobility show that people in states such as those not only start out with far lower per capita incomes, they have less chance of increasing it over time than in Illinois.
Comment by OldSmoky2 Monday, May 14, 12 @ 10:17 am
So Murphy grabbed the bi-partisan cost cutting bill overwhelmingly passed in the House, in order to put a brick on it? So that he can complain to the press and editorial boards all Summer, but offer nothing real himself?
Sounds exactly like last year. All politics, no practical solutions.
Will Radogno, Dillard, or some other more responsible Senator please spring this bill!
Comment by mark walker Monday, May 14, 12 @ 11:10 am
Thank you Ahoy! I wonder if we won’t really get some negotiating in good faith when the repubs realize that they will have to put their name on some pretty draconian cuts. I think the dems should force them to do it and nationalize this. Its exactly what is happening on the national scene. we can find cme 85 million bucks and we can give sears who didn’t pay any income taxes an even bigger gift but we’re going to take pensions and kick poor people off of medicaid and keep stealing money from schools and social service providers and everybody else we owe money to because the republicans wont let us refinance and pay people back to make them whole? Really? so we owe businesses and non profits hundreds of thousands of dollars but the manufacturing association and the bankers and the road builders and the insurance industry and the retailers and chambers can all make sure they get every tax break known to man? so everybody else is just supposed to man up? Really? When they just say no, they don’t have to be accountable. the biggest repubs yelling about cuts are also the ones that went ballistic over facility closures and program losses in their districts. If the dems stick together, they turn the tables. so lets see murphy and crew actually vote on a budget that is a billion less than what people are scared to death of right now….double dog dare y’all. then if it passes, dems can still vote no and its a repub budget then. this summer is gonna be fun!
Comment by are you serious? Monday, May 14, 12 @ 11:21 am
The Republicans don’t want to create chaos….the want to PRESERVE the chaos.
Comment by JustaJoe Monday, May 14, 12 @ 12:01 pm
The Republican chaos theory sounds right on, and even just an unconscious tendency at this point. I say that as a cut on leadership, knowing that there are Republicans who are very interested in working together to solve this mess, and sorry about the deep cuts.
Work tends to fit into the slot assigned for it. They can work all summer or they can work a week and they will have to agree to cut the same amount either way. Tthey just have to agree to jump off that ledge. Discussing something like revenue increases, on the other hand, would take a lot of work and negotiation but, except for the cig tax, that isn’t on the table. I’d take the summer off too.
Comment by Dan Bureaucrat Monday, May 14, 12 @ 12:14 pm
==State Sen. Matt Murphy (R-Palatine), a GOP budgeteer, picked up sponsorship of the House spending cap resolution March 30, the day it passed the House. But Murphy has refused to call the measure for a vote in committee.==
Is there not a parliamentary move the Democrats could use to have one of their own take over sponsorship?
Comment by Robert Monday, May 14, 12 @ 12:57 pm
**Is there not a parliamentary move the Democrats could use to have one of their own take over sponsorship? **
Senate Dems don’t want to vote for it either. The spending level is too low.
Comment by dave Monday, May 14, 12 @ 1:29 pm
can’t we just send four anonymous Democrats and four anonymous Republicans into a back room and have them develop a joint revenue and spending plan? Call it the “Blue Ribbon Plan for Governing”. In both chambers, the partisan leaders would co-sponsor it for purposes of bringing it to the full chamber for a Committee of the Whole hearing and hopefully passage. The plan would probably have to be a package of two or three bills to appease the Supreme Court and its single subject rule, but all members would understand the votes as part of a package deal. Pass it by the end of May
Or is governing a dirty word?
Comment by Capitol View Monday, May 14, 12 @ 2:27 pm
–Or is governing a dirty word?–
Clearly, for many years, in a significant portion of the body politic, it is.
Attempt to find common ground among differing parties and you’re an apostate.
Consider your own proposal: a handful of lawmakers, working anonymously, for fear of reprisal.
Examples abound daily. For example, today on this blog, the CEO of the sixth largest corporation in America, an uber-capitalist, was called a “leftist” for serving on a presidential advisory board. That’s all it took.
Comment by wordslinger Monday, May 14, 12 @ 2:43 pm
@Patriot -
Our ballooning Medicaid enrollment was created by George Bush.
And unless I’m mistaken, our ballooning pension payments were enacted under Gov. Edgar, while Republicans controlled both the Senate and the House (1995).
That’s not to say that Democrats are without fault. I’m sure plenty voted along with Republicans to skip pension payments in the past.
But the real culprit, frankly, is Illinois voters. For decades they’ve demanded more spending on health care, human services, education, prisons, grants and tax breaks for businesses…and widely opposed every possible plan to pay for the government they wanted.
I’ll wager you’re one of them.
Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Monday, May 14, 12 @ 4:03 pm
While it’s appreciated, it’s also easy to pledge bipartisanship and cooperation from the State Treasurer’s office. No election is pending and no hard votes are necessary. Let’s see what kind of influence the Treasurer has on the rest of his party, which will be judged by their actions not their words.
Comment by Rudy Monday, May 14, 12 @ 4:40 pm
A near majority of Democrats are apparently willing to take unprecedented votes to slash spending, emasculate Medicaid, and take away pension benefits. Instead of joining their colleagues, Senate Republicans are holding out for eveb more.
Comment by reformer Monday, May 14, 12 @ 6:16 pm