*** UPDATE 1 *** The House is now debating the higher ed funding bill. Check the live coverage post…
*** UPDATE 2 *** The House has overwhelmingly approved the measure 106-2. Democratic Reps. Jack Franks and Scott Drury voted “No.”
*** UPDATE 3 *** The Senate unanimously approved the bill.
[ *** End Of Updates *** ]
* The governor’s office and the House GOP Leader did a remarkable job of keeping things together yesterday, and then it all seemed to fall apart…
A bill to send $600 million to universities and community colleges to keep them operating until September was suddenly derailed in the House Thursday night, leaving the fate of the funding bill in doubt.
Illinois House members appeared poised to approve the bill that had bi-partisan support and, according to Republicans, would have been signed by Gov. Bruce Rauner.
However, the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Rita Mayfield, D-Waukegan, suddenly announced that she would not be calling the bill for a final vote Thursday.
In the confusion that followed, Democrats said that House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago, had requested that the bill not be called for a vote last night.
“There was something going on with the Senate. I don’t know what,” Currie said after the House adjourned for the night. She walked away without further comment.
Um, no. But subscribers know more.
* AP…
Rep. Mark Batinick, a Republican from Plainfield, reminded lawmakers after the bill was postponed that prospective college students are deliberating where to go to school, with a May 1 deadline looming for their decisions.
“Congratulations, everybody,” he said, slapping away his microphone.
The money for the bill is possible because of a surplus in the state’s Education Assistance Fund, which takes a portion of income taxes for public schools and colleges. The funding proposal also has nearly $170 million in tuition grants for low-income students.
“The purpose of this bill is simply to provide emergency funding to our universities through the summer with the hope that we can continue to work on a budget so that we can fully fund them,” said Rep. Rita Mayfield, the Democrat sponsoring the measure.
* Tribune…
Some lawmakers said they shouldn’t support a deal on higher education funding that amounted to a massive cut. Others saw an opportunity to add spending on social services to the mix. After all, allies of Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner said he would support the budget bill without linking it to provisions to his political wish list known as the Turnaround Agenda. Perhaps they could get the governor to open up the state’s checkbook a little more.
“I think logic finally came in,” said Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, who argued against the bill. “I think we have an opportunity now. Because of this, it shows that the other side is now willing to go forward with budget items that don’t have the Turnaround Agenda tied to it, which I think is a major breakthrough.”
A revamped proposal could emerge Friday to provide temporary relief for schools that have been forced to shed jobs and cut programs amid a record-setting state budget impasse. It’s the last chance before lawmakers take a one-week break. Many are eager to act amid intense pressure from universities and social service providers back home, and rank-and-file legislators have been meeting privately all week in an effort to reach a deal.
In a sign of how delicate negotiations remain, even the sometimes pointed Rauner struck a measured tone in a statement released by his office late Thursday.
* The statement was indeed measured…
“The Governor applauds the members in both chambers and on both sides of the aisle who are coming together to deliver emergency assistance to our universities, community colleges and low-income students. We hope the majority will respect the bipartisan agreement reached today and move the agreement to the Governor’s desk without delay.”
Considering the blowups of the recent past, you gotta give them credit for keeping an even keel. It wasn’t easy, by any means.
Some people just want the war to continue. But, someday it has to end. That process should start today. Pass this stuff and move the heck on.
…Adding… Democratic legislators need to keep these quotes in mind today…
“Well, I’m not sure what just happened because even the old hands here in the Capitol were surprised by this. But clearly, we’re at the point of existential crisis for some of our institutions. And there has to be a patch. There has to be a stop gap” [said Southern Illinois University President Randy Dunn].
Jack Thomas, president of Western Illinois University, was visibly angry and requested a few minutes to calm down before answering questions.
“We were all excited tonight, thinking that they were going to come to an agreement, and then BOOM! No budget right now, everything has been put on hold.”
A representative of Chicago State University - slated to close at the end of this month - had previously agreed to an interview but cancelled after the deal collapsed, telling me “We have nothing to say.”
- wordslinger - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 9:06 am:
Yesterday was the first day in more than a year when all the parties were actively, publicly engaged in advancing the ball.
That’s a good thing.
That doesn’t mean it won’t be messy and chaotic. It always is, when they’re actually working.
This stop-gap stuff is just the start. Better pack a lunch, because cleaning up the mess created over the last year is going to be an all-day job.
- Not It - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 9:11 am:
Those that are enjoying this war (*cough* Speaker *cough*) need to grow up.
You spend a decade being the adult in the room and now you decide to be the toddler throwing a tantrum in the middle of the grocery store?
- Not It - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 9:14 am:
I would rather our University Presidents be running their institutions instead of dealing with the immaturity of Springfield.
- Chucktownian - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 9:16 am:
My goodness you geniuses, students are making their final decisions on where to go to college right now. If this doesn’t pass, how many thousands will choose differently?
Yes, it’s not adequate. Yes it’s annoying that we’re stuck doing this despite 60% of legislators having provided a budget that funded higher ed at 94%, etc.
But higher education is bleeding out and you guys are standing around debating what quality level of tourniquet you should apply.
Do something.
Now.
- Jimmy H - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 9:24 am:
“Considering the blowups of the recent past, you gotta give them credit for keeping an even keel. It wasn’t easy, by any means.”
A big step forward for them. I’m more hopeful than ever.
Thank you to everyone posting last night. I am personally affected by this impasse. I appreciate knowing the details of what was happening.
- A Modest Proposal - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 9:24 am:
Maybe, after today, the University Presidents will start to understand that the Democrats in Springfield have been tearing apart higher ed funding for the past 40 years…
one can only wish
- @MisterJayEm - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 9:24 am:
Settle down and settle in, everybody.
As a wise man once said, “Rome wasn’t breaking a few eggs to make sausages in one day.”
– MrJM
- Formerly Known as Frenchie M - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 9:26 am:
—
Maybe, after today, the University Presidents will start to understand that the Democrats in Springfield have been tearing apart higher ed funding for the past 40 years…
—-
Or maybe university presidents can demand Rauner signs a budget. Like real governors (and … um, business folks) do.
- Northsider - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 9:29 am:
Funny, but I don’t recall this sort of thing happening during the first 38 1/2 of the past 40 years. I wonder what made the difference.
- Formerly Known as Frenchie M - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 9:34 am:
—
Funny, but I don’t recall this sort of thing happening during the first 38 1/2 of the past 40 years. I wonder what made the difference.
—
A $20+ million baseball bat to threaten the GOP into a cowardly silence.
- ArchPundit - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 9:34 am:
It’s a good start.
“Funny, but I don’t recall this sort of thing happening during the first 38 1/2 of the past 40 years. I wonder what made the difference.”
Let’s see Pate Philip had the Senate for 10 of those 40 years and Republicans held the Governorship for 27 1/2 of those years.
We have plenty of blame to go around, but let’s not pretend either side has clean hands in this financial mess.
- Jimmy H - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 9:36 am:
The point of no return is NOW! The May 1st deadline is not the point of no return. Most students do not wait until the last day to decide. Students have been choosing and are currently choosing where to attend college. Fall enrollment started weeks ago.
- SJR Headline - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 9:38 am:
Will MJM terminate these surprise captives or release them? Is he having difficulty letting go of this war even if it means closing CSU? Please, let this bi-partisan agreement pass and stop the games.
- wordslinger - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 9:46 am:
– Is he having difficulty letting go of this war even if it means closing CSU? –
If he did that, he would lose his caucus forever.
Think that’s the plan?
- cdog - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 9:47 am:
The arena of Higher Ed demands a little respect for the math.
$38billion in expenses cannot be covered by $32billion in revenue. (not exact numbers, but you get the idea.)
Compartmentalize and start with Higher Ed and cover some real ground with these green votes from the ILGOP.
Put some revenue on it ladies and gentleman. Remember, its very simple math and very simple constraints.
- Math - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 9:52 am:
You been here, Northsider? This is how they’ve done it for years.
- Langhorne - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 9:54 am:
As i said before, this isnt a solution, it is a pocket of air along the floor while the house continues to burn. I am afraid we will have a couple more of these as we lurch along, not a full catch up, or prospective funding. A few months ago, a community college pres asked rauner if they would get full funding, once a budget passed. He said, “dont count on it”. Shameful.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 9:59 am:
Batinick acted like a Freshman acts… lil disappointing.
- Indochine - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 10:00 am:
All these academians who have been vilifying Rauner got a good taste yesterday about what the real world is really like.
Doesn’t taste very good, does it?
There’s really no one to root for in this mess.
- Mama - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 10:03 am:
Maybe after this, the governor will understand why he needs to pass a budget.
- Precinct Captain - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 10:03 am:
This is stabbing higher ed in the heart instead of shooting it in the heart.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 10:11 am:
This is also what happens when caring about Ken Dunkin saving vetoes overrides the thoughts of 60 and 30, budgets, or caring about Higher Ed and Social Services.
The rationale Rauner gave about Dunkin stifling progress says it all.
Now?
We need agreements. We need a budget, we need clarity.
We need 71 and 36 to leave no doubt… Illinois matters more than “Ken Dunkin” and continuing the “struggle”.
- ZC - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 10:13 am:
I just don’t see the equivalency here.
Higher ed is one more hostage on Rauner’s list.
There are bigger issues of course but this meltdown (like most of it) is most directly derived from Rauner’s election and his misguided hardball tactics. We can’t fix problems without diagnosing them, however much it hurts the feelings of some Rauner voters out there. We the people of IL elected a lemon in 2014, and we’re still paying for it.
- Langhorne - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 10:25 am:
The more difficult a funding package, or complicated bill, is to put together, the more fragile it is and subject to collapse. Tinkering, and new demands, continue to the last moment. Thats when keeping your word is critical.
- Norseman - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 10:31 am:
=== Considering the blowups of the recent past, you gotta give them credit for keeping an even keel. It wasn’t easy, by any means. ===
Can he be learning? Let’s hope, but I’m not going to be holding my breath.
- In 630 - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 10:32 am:
-There’s really no one to root for in this mess-
I dunno, the people furloughed at WIU, facing layoffs at UI and possible total job loss at CSU seem really easy to root for. So do the students. And pretty much everyone involved in some local economies around the state. I see tons of people to root for stuck in the middle of this.
- Norseman - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 10:33 am:
Well the Stopgap passed. Let’s hope (typing that word all too much this last 15 months) that it will lead to more permanent solutions.
- JackD - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 10:34 am:
In the meantime, the poor, disabled, and needy, with no clout, will continue to starve.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 10:35 am:
Yes!
Finally some serious work to help Higher Ed, but it’s a stopgap, nothing is solved.
Keep on Keeping On… Don’t stop now, General Assembly, save the state, do some heavy lifting.
- Anon221 - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 10:37 am:
” Republican House Leader Durkin vows a resolution to social service funding as early as next week.”-
GOOD!!! Let’s see a 100+ vote on that one too!!! They (social services) are the last ones left out in the cold.
- Lester Holt's Mustache - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 10:37 am:
To the update - hooray!
Glad they were able to get this done, even if they will be back having this same fight again in September.
- SJR Headline - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 10:55 am:
Congratulations! Well done by the GA, and it is great to see Currie and the Dems thought better of their last minute hostage-taking.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 11:02 am:
To the update…
Dear Rep. Batinick,
The next time you feel the need to make a “point of… ” and it makes you look ridiculous because you just are unaware, no one needs to hear your lemming-like, back-bench diatribe.
Try to be better. Try to be someone thoughtful, not someone who says thoughtless things to make yourself “feel better”
Ugh.
Your stick went down a few notches…
OW
- skeptical - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 11:04 am:
It’s hard to be excited about this. The state now proposes to give the schools enough money to make it through the summer, but nothing for next year - and we have the same gov. for two more years. Most of the students who were planning to attend UIUC or ISU will not change those decisions. Others have already made the decision to go out of state. For those considering the regionals, many will not take the risk that these schools may not be funded going forward. Too little too late. For the gov. it’s mission accomplished and on to the next hostage. Squeezin’ the beast and shake ‘em out.
- wordslinger - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 11:19 am:
Gee, they don’t make “hostages” like they used to.
For all the sturm und drang about last night’s delay, I’ve waited longer for the cable man.
- walker - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 11:20 am:
What Wordslinger said a the top of the thread.
Commenters have been at the rodeo before.
Looks like the normal, crazy May is in store, and that’s a good thing.
- Annonin' - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 11:31 am:
Wonder if BigBrains arer tellin’ mayors and others about payments goin out via Vendor Services Initiative?
Oh we forgot to add about the amazin’ ness of the GOPie epic effort
- Saluki - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 11:44 am:
Bout time. Keep it up
- Mama - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 11:44 am:
According to Doug Fink - Higher has passed both houses.
Rich, is this correct?
- Rich Miller - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 11:48 am:
===Rich, is this correct? ===
Watch the live coverage post.
- Scamp640 - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 11:49 am:
@ Indochine. I really detest the condescending comments made by the likes of you. As if “academics” don’t know what the real world is like. Higher education funding has been cut in this state for more than a decade. We have seen downsizing, layoffs, deferred maintenance, furloughs, wage give backs, and more during this entire time. The operating budget in my department has been cut by 70% between 2010 and 2016. Why have you not been watching? You really need to get up to speed before making comments.
- Mama - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 11:56 am:
== “The House has overwhelmingly approved the measure 106-2. Democratic Reps. Jack Franks and Scott Drury voted “No.”==
What is wrong with those two representatives? Is nothing better than a temporary fix?
- SJR Headline - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 11:57 am:
‘Think that’s the plan?’ I think it’s wrong to take agreed-to higher ed funding hostage, particularly in the final throes of a bi-partisan agreement.
Do you mean to suggest that hostage taking is acceptable as long as it is part of ‘the plan’?
- 47th Ward - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 11:57 am:
Pardon me if I don’t do cartwheels to celebrate higher education being cut by 60%-70%.
Only in Illinois, only in the midst of this epic battle, could draconian cuts to what used to be one of the best systems of higher education in the U.S. be considered cause for celebration.
And if this cut is swallowed, which in some cases it will be gratefully swallowed, then expect $600 million to be the new baseline for higher education funding under the Rauner Administration.
#winning
- SJR Headline - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 12:06 pm:
‘Think that’s the plan’? I think it is wrong to take agreed-to higher ed funding hostage, particularly in the final throes of a bi-partisan agreement. That is not an acceptable part of ‘the plan’.
- wordslinger - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 12:13 pm:
–I think it is wrong to take agreed-to higher ed funding hostage, particularly in the final throes of a bi-partisan agreement. That is not an acceptable part of ‘the plan’.–
You might want to catch up on the reading before commenting.
- DHSJim - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 1:33 pm:
Franks and Drury voted no as usual proving how useless they are yet again. Makes me wonder why AFSCME and the rest of labor didn’t primary them. Those two have got to go if the GA wants to get anything of lasting significance done.
- Norseman - Friday, Apr 22, 16 @ 1:37 pm:
=== … great to see Currie and the Dems thought better of their last minute hostage-taking. ===
We have a new Raunerbot or an old one who has changed his name. This is a laughable comment from someone who wants to ignore the carnage wrought by Rauner’s hostage taking.