* Our quote of the day…
At one point, Quinn seemed to suggest he considers the budget balanced.
“There’s no hole left,” he said at a Chicago news conference.
* From Bill Brady’s campaign…
Governor Quinn has apparently cranked up the old Rod Blagojevich razzle dazzle machine.
It’s too little too late. Despite the $13 billion deficit and increased government spending – Governor Quinn has done nothing to address the structural problems in state government. Instead he continues to propose his 33 percent income tax increase that takes more money out of the pockets of Illinois residents.
The taxpayers have had enough.
Governor Quinn today cut less than one-half percent from the state budget with a supposed promise to cut more. The people of Illinois know that those cuts won’t happen. Last year, Governor Quinn promised to cut spending by $1 billion – and instead state spending increased.
Illinois has lost a record number of jobs. Unemployment is at a 26-year high. More than 200,000 jobs have been lost under Governor Quinn’s failed leadership.
It’s time for a clean break.
Brady should’ve used that quote of the day.
* More react from the Senate Republican budgeteer…
Sen. Matt Murphy, a budget experts for Senate Republicans, was quick to criticize. He said Quinn’s outline contained “a lot more fiction, I think, than fact.”
* From Lee Newspapers, we get a list of some of the cuts…
Taking the brunt of the cuts are programs serving the physically and mentally disabled. There were no announced layoffs, but the state workforce will drop by about 1,000 employees by not replacing workers who leave the public sector. […]
State universities will see an overall cut of $96 million, which essentially reflects the absence of federal stimulus dollars this coming year.
Unlike former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Quinn did not target the prison system for cuts. Rather than threaten to lay off workers or close prisons, Quinn hopes to save $42 million by managing overtime costs. […]
The Illinois State Police will see a $15.4 million reduction, but Quinn has backed off his earlier threat to shutter district headquarters.
The Illinois Department of Public Health will see a $17 million cut. Among programs on the chopping block are a prostate cancer awareness initiative and rural health grants.
Quinn also issued an executive order aimed at cutting costs for everything from in-state travel to magazine subscriptions.
More details from the SJ-R…
*Elementary and secondary education: Cuts $241 million in categorical programs, including $84 million in transportation, $68 million in reading improvement grants and $70 million for other grants.
*Human Services: Cuts $312.6 million. More than $262 million is to come from grants. Non-Medicaid programs in mental health and developmental disabilities will be reduced or eliminated, payments will be delayed for developmental disabilities programs, and eligibility will be limited for several other programs.
*Healthcare and Family Services: Increases $162 million
*Public Health: Cuts $17 million. Women’s and rural health grants, medical student scholarships and community health center expansion are among areas to be reduced.
*Children and Family Services: Cuts $6 million. Bed counts will be reduced in institutions and group homes.
* Additional budget documents…
Allocation Summary
Historical Approp Master 1
Historical Approp Master 2
Budget
Emergency Budget Act
Executive Order 10 - 2010 - Spending Reductions SCANNED
Executive Order 10 - 2010 - Spending Reductions
Reduction Veto Message
* WGN’s report…
- Reality Check - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 1:41 pm:
Brady: Governor Quinn today cut less than one-half percent from the state budget
Bull.
According to the document RM posted above (http://www.illinois.gov/publicincludes/statehome/gov/documents/Historical%20Approp%20Master.pdf):
GRF in FY09 was $27.926 billion.
GRF in FY10 was $26.340 billion (a cut of 5.6%)
GRF in FY11 will be $24.94 billion (a cut of 5.3%)
IOW, this is MORE than Brady’s proposed 10% cut when measured vs FY09.
The cut would look even worse when if one adjusted (as you should) for rising labor costs and population growth).
In short, shut the hell up Bill Brady.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 1:43 pm:
RC, I believe Brady was referring to the reduction veto, not the full plan.
- dave - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 1:49 pm:
I believe Brady was referring to the reduction veto, not the full plan.
Perhaps… but that isn’t what Brady said. At all.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 1:49 pm:
Brady’s welcome to put together a proposed budget any time now. He’ll probably need the whole box of 64 with built-in sharpener. He is running for governor, right? Kind of an important issue.
- Cheryl44 - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 1:53 pm:
I don’t have a problem with my taxes going up by a third. I make a good living, I have no dependents. I can afford it.
- fed up - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 1:53 pm:
lets see Quinn/Blago have ignored the constitution that states we have a balanced budget all 8 years in office so the fact that this budget is nowhere near balanced should surprise no one.
A reporter could ask Quinn if this budget is balanced why would we need a tax increase.
- CircularFiringSquad - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 1:55 pm:
That’s the best NoTaXRushmore can do….yikes! He must be busy today getting personalized AK47s with a bandolier of Hollow Points to donate to every block club kook out in CHicago.
Perhaps he should have let StateWideTom offer some more excuses for the budget mess
BTW not that MuttMurphy has orated when we hear the other suburban budget whiz —Rauschie????
We are on the edge of our bleeping seats
BTW-2 Mr/Ms Reality Check, pleeeeeeze don’t confuse the NoTaxRushmore Crew with any facts. It makes them very very dizzy
- Team Sleep - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 2:03 pm:
Bill Brady’s team would be wise to do what JBT’s team did in 2006: lock themselves in their headquarters for a week or two, come out with a full-fledged budget plan & revenue stream and challenge the sitting governor to counteract the proposals. If Brady can raise enough coin, he and his team can plaster his budget message all over the state. In 2006, JBT ran up against a $30 million buzzsaw. In 2010, Brady won’t have that buzzsaw to worry about.
The interesting thing about the Quinn budget veto is the immediate effect the healthcare reform bill has on Illinois and other states. This is not an attempt by me to start a debate on the merits of the healthcare bill, but states must pour resources into their Medicaid programs to ensure the programs meet HHS standards. In the long run, that MAY help, but for now, the extra funds really put a pinch on state government.
- Aldyth - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 2:04 pm:
No kidding that the major brunt of this will be born by individuals with disabilities. If you have a child with a disability who is going to graduate from high school and you need adult services for him, you better move out of Illinois.
The families and advocates for people with disabilities will be going after Quinn with torches and pitchforks. He’ll deserve it, too.
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 2:06 pm:
The problem for Quinn is that Brady can beat something with nothing. Stand and scream all you want at Brady, he has the edge. Voters are unwilling to pay more for this crappy governement, and would rather pay less for it. Quinn is governor and this is what happens when a governor runs for election.
Thems the breaks.
- fed up - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 2:11 pm:
All Brady needs is a silly slogan “change” and then just let the incompetance of the current office holder win the election for you. I remember that working recently.
- Cincinnatus - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 2:24 pm:
If Brady were to produce a budget, the entire rest of the election season would have one faction or another sniping at individual provisions of that budget. This would be to Quinn’s advantage since all the special interest groups would blast Brady, just like the anti-tax folks blast Quinn. Right now, Quinn will be spending a lot of time defending himself and his budget, all Brady would do by proposing a budget is relieve Quinn of the heat he is going to take.
Right now, Brady can blast Quinn’s entire budget without walking too far into the weeds. The budget hangs about Quinn’s neck like an albatross, all Brady needs to do is point and say, “See.” Why in the world would Brady propose a budget, and spend the rest of the election defending something that doesn’t have a chance in h-e-double hockey sticks of passing the Democrat controlled General Assembly.
So given these facts, and knowing how haphazard Brady’s campaign has operated to date, I expect Brady to propose a budget any day now.
- CircularFiringSquad - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 2:52 pm:
TeamSleep:
Great bleeping idea….model your campaign on Tugboat Annie…..That’s better than having StateWideTom makes excuses for NoTaxRushmore.
We can see it now
CampaignMasterJerry: We are spending zillions on day care. Can we hold down?
NoTaxRushmore: Huh? Babysitters! Tell the little women to stay home with the young uns. That will save a bundle. Next item
Get going NRT
Fire,Aim, Ready
- Old Milwaukee - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 3:15 pm:
Cheryl,
Send your money to the State Treasurer’s office. They’ll cash the check.
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 3:17 pm:
CFS you are sounding like Tokyo Rose again. Your derogatory coded language sounds like it is supposed to mean something to someone stationed on the front line in the South Pacific.
“Hello G.I. Joe!”
“We see that G.I. Joe’s Mrs. Joe is visiting her Aunt Betty too often! And Aunt Betty is not home, G.I. Joe! Maybe she seeing that handsome plummer boy while you away!”
“Tugboat Annie is seeing StateWideTom under the Dome. We can see it now! CampaignMasterJerry spending G.I. Joe’s money on day care while TeamSleep is away at war!”
“Poor G.I. Joe! You so misunderstood! Your Mrs. will save a bundle while you away losing war with SpeakerMadigan, who we all know is only fighting because of the lies and dirty dollars being spent on our hero by NoTaxRushmore!”
- Cincinnatus - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 3:21 pm:
Vanilla Man,
Clarence Wolf Guts, the last Lakotah code talker, passed away last week. Perhaps the news report was incorrect since CFS appears alive and kicking…
- VanillaMan - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 3:27 pm:
I do not believe that CFS postings would be better understood in the Lakotah language either.
Ready,Aim,Fire!
Oh Poor G.O.P.Joe - he is all dead now!
- Cincinnatus - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 3:48 pm:
Check out how the NY governor is handing his budget shortfall and the lack of a budget bill from his state senate:
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local-beat/Paterson-Veto-Marathon-Session-97609144.html
- Dead Head - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 3:57 pm:
Brady had better check with John Baynor. This is just an, “ant,” not a finanacial crisis.
- Cincinnatus - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 4:10 pm:
- Dead Head - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 3:57 pm:
“Brady had better check with John Baynor. This is just an, “ant,” not a finanacial crisis.”
Be serious and try again.
Speaker (er, Minority Leader) Boehner was making an analogy comparing the scope of massive change of the FinReg bill to the simple changes that he sees necessary in the regulatory environment to provide adequate consumer protection. Perhaps the 2300 page bill may contain an eency-weency bit of over-regulation. He was not comparing the financial meltdown to be the size of an ant. Any such reading is uninformed.
Several commenters have pointed out many of the factual problem with Obama’s speeches that he’s made in the past few days. Believe it or not, not everything out of Obama’s mouth is 100% accurate, all of the time.
- Sick and Tired - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 4:32 pm:
I find it humorous that Quinn lays down the cutting the belt, no travel, no overtime etc etc….I have not seen any cost cutting in HFS. Why are new staff being hired without old Blago people being let go? 30 + special assistants now? A new legislative liason with the old one still there?..They live in Chicago and will be traveling back and forth and no doubt getting per diem and housing…..I am not seeing any cutbacks in spending…everyone still acts like there is money in the bank for whatever they want. Creating new jobs and expecting every one else to take furlough days to make up for it….
It is ridiculous.
- cassandra - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 4:36 pm:
HFS has 30 plus special assistants including two legislative liaisons? Wow. Must be a lot of Democrats needing jobs in this economy. S and T’s comments reflect comments I’ve heard from folks in other agencies like DHS and DCFS. No cuts, no pain, no worry. It’s all talk. The governor will talk about budget problems but don’t worry. There’s plenty of money for raises, we’re still doing promotions, and so on.
- duck duck goose - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 4:54 pm:
I’m a bit confused. The Reduction Veto appears to contain reductions of about $160 million. The $1.4 billion that everybody is reporting looks like a reduction from the FY2010 budget–not the cuts the Governor made today from the FY2011 budget. Am I missing something?
- Dead Head - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 5:07 pm:
Cincinnatus
I suggest you check your sources. I apologize for mis-spelling Mr. Boehner’s name, but nothing else. I heard the question asked of him and his response. When asked what he thought of the Obama administrations response to the financial situation, he said “kinda like dropping a nuclear bomb on an ant.”
- Dead Head - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 5:11 pm:
In my opinion, it’s time for a graduated income tax in Illinois. Let those who can afford to pay more do so.
- Cincinnatus - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 5:39 pm:
Dead Head,
I don’t think I am the one misreading. He was talking about the Democrat FINANCIAL REGULATION PACKAGE, not the “financial situation” as you allege.
“He [Boehner] said a financial reform proposal Democrats are pushing is an overreaction to the economic crisis, equating it with “killing an ant with a nuclear weapon.”
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dcnow/2010/06/obama-democrats-seize-on-boehner-ant-comment.html
- Anonymous - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 5:54 pm:
$1.4billion in cuts?
now where have I heard that before?
oh yeah, last year right around this time?
Correct me if I am wrong, and I think someone else alluded to this on this thread or on another one, but isn’t this $1.4 billion in “cuts” a regurgitation of numbers from last fiscal year’s proposed cuts?
The $1.4billion number has been cited/outlined by Quinn before.
Any accounting on how much government grew from the fiscal year to this one?
Are there any credible numbers, preferably by an independent and reliable source, to substantiate the justifciation for maintaining early childhood education funding? Exactly how well are these programs performing? Are these early childhood education providers/organizations making real progress with the children that they serve? Where is the proof?
I suspect and fear that much of it is absorbed by “administrative costs.” I would love to see an independent audit of these organizations to find out where all of the money is actually going.
- MrJM - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 6:14 pm:
Talk about a sufficiently advanced accounting trick!
“There’s no hole left” has gotta be the mutant offspring of Arthur C. Clarke and Arthur Andersen!
– MrJM
- DuPage Dave - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 7:03 pm:
Quinn’s Executive Order was a great laugh at lunch time. All the stuff on travel is already part of policy. Selling old computers is policy. GOMB approval for out-of-state travel is already policy.
Several references to restricting this or that unless it is deemed “essential”? And who does the deeming? Probably the guy that wants his own state car.
Also- telling state agencies to review per diem rates? Those are set by the Governor’s Travel Control Board. Quick- who’s the Governor??
- fed up - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 7:08 pm:
In my opinion, it’s time for a graduated income tax in Illinois. Let those who can afford to pay more do so.
even with a flat tax those making more do pay more. if you make $100k you pay $3k if you make $200k you pay $6k.
Maybe its time for the Quinn/Blago administration to stop passing laws that their is no money to pay for. If i dont have the money todo something I dont do it If Quinn doesnt have the money he does it anyway and puts the bill off until next year.
- Gregor - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 8:03 pm:
So riddle me this; how do you “manage overtime” without hiring more workers? In the prisons for example, they are understaffed for guards, so the guards are running extra shifts or extra-long shifts on mandatory overtime. In the state hospitals, the doctors and nurses are overworked and understaffed, so they run overtime. State troopers are in short supply, but for this holiday weekend you KNOW they won;t be home barbecuing and watching fireworks; they’ll be pressed to come in to work and work overtime, manning DUI checkpoints and handling various emergencies.
So, what does “managing overtime” mean, really? All these folks going to clock out at five and really go home? Leaving prisoners unguarded. Patients without care or supervision. Streets empty of law enforcers.
Or does “managing” it mean they will just be expected to work overtime for free? The equivalent of extra furlough days? I’m going to ask a trooper to go out and maybe take a bullet tonight for someone, and not even get paid for it? I’m going to ask a guard who risks getting stabbed every day to walk that corridor without a gun, just keys and a walkie-talkie, for free?
I’m going to ask a nurse to leave her kids in the care of someone else, someone she has to pay, while she stays at the care facility tending a sick person, and not get paid for it? For how many days am I going to ask these people to give of themselves and endure costs and expenses, take very real risks to life and limb… yet not get paid for enduring them?
Am I missing another option? Besides staffing the jobs at reasonable levels and paying a reasonable wage and benefits? For which we have to raise and dedicate funds?
I don’t care how nice my local legislator has been; I really want to vote every single legislator out and the Governor as well. Based on their gridlocked and ineffectual malfeasance to date, if ANYBODY deserves to be stuck at a job working overtime, for no pay, it should be THEM.
“Manage” that, Springfield.
- HERE YOU GO - Thursday, Jul 1, 10 @ 8:26 pm:
WoW what a joke Quinn is he waited to announce nothing. He is not stopping spending he is increasing it with programs that will cost more in the future. He is giving money away that the state dosent have. He has no spine to stand up to anybody or anything. Oh and by the way keep selling bonds for construction projects Quinn to put the union people to work. So they can go on strike well done round of applause for you.
- CircularFiringSquad - Friday, Jul 2, 10 @ 9:06 am:
Willy Vanilly
Derogatory coded language? Just trying to bring some life to Capt Fax’s somewhat drab crew.
I know some derogatory language and trust me NoTaxRushmore ain’t really worth it.
But it is worthwhile to highlight the 18th Century thinking that dominates their “policy wonks”
It might help motivate those that the pollsters believe are non motivated Ds and Is for November
BTW: I know some razzle dazzle and I do not believe Governor Quinn — bless his heart — is capable of razzle dazzle
- wordslinger - Friday, Jul 2, 10 @ 10:42 am:
VMan, when’s the last time you gave Illinois taxpayers a full day’s work for a full day’s pay? You’ve got a pretty sweet gig.