* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…

In response to a question last week from my associate Isabel Miller, Gov. JB Pritzker said he didn’t think a group of progressive legislators could pass their progressive revenue bills through both chambers by the end of the spring session.

“They’ve been working very hard on getting something done,” Pritzker said of the bicameral progressive effort to at least raise enough money to prevent the governor’s proposed budget cuts to a host of state programs.

However, Pritzker continued, “It doesn’t appear that they’re able to get something done through the House or the Senate right now,” adding that sometimes it takes time to accomplish “big things.” The session is scheduled to end May 31.

A list of the governor’s proposed budget cuts was circulating among state legislators last week. Many of those legislators oppose those budget cuts and want to raise “progressive revenues” to make sure the cuts don’t happen.

The total cuts they came up with are a bit more than $384 million, although they warn that their list of cuts is “nonexhaustive” and “subject to additions.”

The cuts include zeroing out a $118 million enacted appropriation in this year’s proposed budget for safety-net hospitals; an $11.4 million proposed reduction in homeless funding; halving a student loan relief program for people employed at community-based human service organizations; and cutting the percentage of state income tax revenues received by local governments, resulting in a $60 million reduction.

The current state budget funded a pilot program in five counties to bolster pretrial services. That $3.5 million wasn’t included in the governor’s proposed budget for next year. Ben & Jerry’s brought ice cream to the Statehouse last week to support the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice’s funding push to save the program.

I sent the list of cuts to the governor’s office, which disputed whether some of those cuts are actually cuts.

Several spending programs, including the $118 million for safety-net hospitals, were added last year by legislators (as is always the case with that money).

In other words, the governor doesn’t want a direct comparison of the currently enacted state budget to his proposed budget for next fiscal year. Instead, Pritzker prefers a comparison between his proposed budget last year and the new spending plan he unveiled in February.

Eight of the 19 proposed cuts the governor’s office annotated fell into that “legislative initiative” category, for about $157 million.

“What some are calling ‘cuts’ are often temporary legislative add-ons returning to normal levels, or adjustments that better reflect demand,” the governor’s office claimed via a statement.

Actually, many of those add-ons are put back every year. The safety-net hospital funding is a prime example. Legislators who represent low-income areas with financially insecure hospitals fight every single year to make sure they get some money.

“The state will continue to protect critical services and drive responsible fiscal decisions that preserve stability and support the people who rely on them most,” the statement from Pritzker’s office continued.

But the governor’s office also claims that spending for homeless people was cut because of “lower demand,” even though homelessness has increased, many programs constantly run out of money, and the wait time for single adults in the Cook County suburbs to access shelter is a whopping 122 days.

A couple of education programs were reduced because the Illinois State Board of Education asked for the reductions, the governor’s office claimed.

The progressives also tallied a $45 million property tax relief program connected to education when, in fact, it was not funded in the current budget. So at least that one item is indisputably incorrect.

The governor’s office also claimed some capital program cuts were not cuts, but those numbers weren’t included in the total bottom line on the list circulating among legislators.

And the governor’s office again pointed out that even though municipal governments are seeing a decrease in their percentage rake, he’s proposing they receive the same amount of money next fiscal year. But with inflation being what it is, no increase equals a cut.

Pritzker’s statement also pointed out the “growing budget cuts from the Trump administration all state budgets are facing across the country.”

But the Affordability and Tax Justice Coalition issued a statement in reply that addressed this point:

“We strongly believe that the answer to Trump’s cruelty is to find sustainable revenue from the wealthy and big corporations to help us avoid these painful cuts, strengthen Illinois’ finances for future fiscal years, and finally begin to fix our unfair tax system.”

And as subscribers were told this morning, this push is coming from more than just the usual progressive suspects.