Greg Hinz: Arguably, the main thing the General Assembly does every year is pass a budget, and there’s big storm clouds on the horizon. The governor’s own budget office has projected a deficit of more than $3 billion. There are lots of people and lots of governments, local governments, who want more money. Mr. Speaker, why don’t you take this one first? How are you going to tackle this? Is anything in particular on the table, off the table in coming up with a balanced budget?
House Speaker Chris Welch: Well, let me say this, Greg, and I will tell you, we’ve had grim financial forecasts before, and you’ve written in the past articles that ‘78 Democrats will never pass a balanced budget.’ And I cut those out and put them on a bulletin board. I give speeches. I say people are rooting against you. And what do we do? We pass the budget, a balanced one that’s responsible and compassionate. We’ve done it every year that I’ve been Speaker.
Hinz: This one’s really grim though.
Welch: We’ve been there before.
Hinz: So how you going to do it?
Welch: Well, we’re going to first of all get together with our respective caucuses and listen to what they have to say. I hope they’re out knocking on doors and listening to their constituents. Because we’ve got to make sure we’re responding to the people that send us to Springfield. But we’ve done it before, and we’re going to do it again, and we’re going to do it in a responsible and compassionate way.
Hinz: Let me push it just a little bit. Is it going to be with cuts, or is it going to be with new revenues?
Welch: Well, I think you have to certainly recognize that we have a $3.1 billion deficit going in, and we have to tell the caucuses, there’s not going to be any new spending. Let’s start there.
Hinz: None?
Welch: Well, like I said, we got to start there. Don’t come in the door looking to spend more money. GOMB has said we have a $3.1 billion deficit, and we start there, and we’re going to go line by line through this budget like we’ve done in the past. And we can find efficiencies, we will.
Hinz: Mr. Harmon?
Senate President Don Harmon: Well, you have to level set here. First of all, the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget is paid to be professionally pessimistic. Even the governor has decided that they are not always right.
But let’s remember what they are saying. They are saying that if we do nothing at the end of the next fiscal year, going into the following fiscal year, we’d face the $3 billion deficit.
The Speaker’s right, we have seen worse projections in our time in Springfield, and we have found ways to survive. Under Governor Pritzker, we’ve seen this every year. It’s been a tough projection. This is tougher than some, but we have found ways to economize, to save money, to pass a responsible balanced budget without a general tax increase.
Hinz: You seem to be suggesting that the real budget deficit isn’t $3 billion, it’s something less.
Harmon: Again, the projection is if we do nothing at the end of the next fiscal year, that would be the deficit. We aren’t going to do nothing. We haven’t figured out exactly what we’re going to do, but it’s a projection based on the set of facts that aren’t likely to come to pass.
- Telly - Wednesday, Dec 11, 24 @ 8:23 am:
I think both leaders are concerned that they have a lot of members who joined the GA after the Rauner administration and therefore have no idea what a tough budget process is like.
- Give Me A Break - Wednesday, Dec 11, 24 @ 8:30 am:
There are members who have never faced a true budget shortfall or had to cast a vote on budget that makes reductions, including in human services budgets, the learning curve is going to be a challenge for some.
- SWSider - Wednesday, Dec 11, 24 @ 9:03 am:
The Democrats are absolutely terrified some of their members might push for revenue instead of cuts.
- Donnie Elgin - Wednesday, Dec 11, 24 @ 9:12 am:
=Well, I think you have to certainly recognize that we have a $3.1 billion deficit going in=
The key question is, will the deficit be a critical enough issue for the Democrats to be willing to lose seats by proposing revenue increases via higher taxes? They would fortify the progressive wing but alienate others. Time for the D supermajority to be truly tested under stress.
- Tim - Wednesday, Dec 11, 24 @ 9:21 am:
This could be interesting. There are two types of math involved here. Real math, and government math. Will the budget really be balanced, or will it be government balanced? I know which one I would bet on. There’s way too many people in that group that just think money just shows up because they need it for some thing they consider to be important. Maybe I’ll be wrong, but I’ll believe it when I see it.
- Jerry - Wednesday, Dec 11, 24 @ 9:26 am:
Looks like the Bears and Six aren’t getting new places. Oh well.
- JS Mill - Wednesday, Dec 11, 24 @ 9:27 am:
Harmon and Welch don’t seem “terrified”, they strike me as serious. And they have been down this road before.
“This one’s really grim though” was Hinz not here 2010-2018? It has been much worse. Much. As long as they take the GOMB predictions seriously and are consistent with past practice we will end up in the right place.
- Jilted - Wednesday, Dec 11, 24 @ 9:52 am:
Fair tax, now
- Techie - Wednesday, Dec 11, 24 @ 10:00 am:
“Fair tax, now”
It would be great to have this in place, but of course that doesn’t help today.
It’s interesting to me that Hinz didn’t press on, asking for specifics like, “What specific items could you imagine spending less on?” They should have some idea of what is less of a priority, even if they would prefer not to say it out loud.
- Spencer - Wednesday, Dec 11, 24 @ 10:11 am:
My bet is on lots of smoke and mirrors, accounting gimmicks, and puffery. Then declare victory and go home.
- hisgirlfriday - Wednesday, Dec 11, 24 @ 10:33 am:
Please make the first cut phasing out the healthcare benefits for non-citizens. From a moral and religious perspective, I believe we humans are all God’s children no matter immigration status but that’s not where the politics are. In deficit times Dems should prioritize benefits to citizens above non-citizens. That program is bad for Pritzker’s 2028 presidential ambitions anyway.
- low level - Wednesday, Dec 11, 24 @ 10:42 am:
==My bet is on lots of smoke and mirrors, accounting gimmicks, and puffery. Then declare victory and go home.==
My bet is on your drive by comment being ignored by ratings agencies who continue to give Illinois upgrades due to sound fiscal practices by Illinois Democrats.
- Larry Bowa Jr. - Wednesday, Dec 11, 24 @ 11:12 am:
“That program is bad for Pritzker’s 2028 presidential ambitions anyway.”
As someone who would probably vote for him, I don’t care. He needs to stay focused on the job he’s doing for its own purposes.
If Democrats are that worried about 2028 already they should cut the crap and find a TV personality who lies well on camera and has Dem-adjacent politics to nominate. Give the voters a cheap thrill. It’s not like the media is going to help them understand anything that happens in the next 4 years anyway.
- Barbie - Wednesday, Dec 11, 24 @ 11:18 am:
Well, if Chicago becomes ground zero for deportations, as threatened a few days ago, the staff and budget allotted to care for the migrants should decrease. I am not a Republican by any stretch but perhaps it is time to downsize some programs and focus more on maximizing the existing resources to help those in need who are residents of the state?
- Spencer - Wednesday, Dec 11, 24 @ 11:33 am:
–”upgrades due to sound fiscal practices”–
Covid money is the equivalent of being born on 3rd base and thinking you hit a triple.
- very old soil - Wednesday, Dec 11, 24 @ 11:36 am:
Didn’t New York City just close a large facility for Immigrants to remove an easy target for Homan?