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The House almost went off the rails last week (Updated)

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* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…

Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch gave added meaning to the phrase “winning ugly” during Wednesday’s early morning hours.

I’ve never seen anything like it, so let’s take a look.

House members were told to be in their seats by noon on Tuesday after the Senate had easily passed the entire budget package on Sunday.

But the House session was delayed for endless hours as rumors swirled about a “mini revolt” against the budget deal struck by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Senate President Don Harmon and Welch. Some of the more fiscally moderate Democrats objected to the budget’s level of spending and particularly the revenue proposals, much of which they did not support as stand-alone proposals.

The House speaker has an unwritten rule that no bill can move forward without 60 House Democratic votes. But many of the revenue-enhancing proposals Welch agreed to with Pritzker and Harmon did not have that level of support. So some of the “mods” were quite grumpy.

The appropriations bill passed with 65 House Democratic votes, with seven Democrats voting against it. The budget implementation bill passed with a more narrow 62-vote margin with eight Democrats voting against it and two progressives taking a walk.

After a bill eliminating the grocery tax passed with 86 votes and three Democrats voting “No,” the time came for what turned out to be the main attraction: the revenue omnibus bill.

Democratic Rep. Fred Crespo, who had earlier voted for the spending bill, warned his colleagues about massive spending pressures next year. “We have a moral obligation to look after taxpayers,” Crespo said, telling members to “vote your conscience.” He voted against it.

At one point during the debate, the Republicans requested a verification of the roll call, meaning that all members who voted for the bill had to be in the chamber. That request clearly caught the super-majority by surprise. Several Democrats were against this bill, and the House Dems were missing five people, two of whom were members of Welch’s leadership team, and one of those, Rep. Aaron Ortiz, had skipped town without telling anyone. Plus, they had some political targets to protect from a potentially controversial tax hike vote.

“Well, it is 3:36 in the morning in the last week of May,” sponsoring Rep. Kelly Burke, D-Evergreen Park, who is retiring at the end of her term, said during her closing remarks after a grueling hour of debate. “And I gotta tell ya, I’m not gonna miss this.”

Little did she know.

Burke’s concurrence motion received 60 votes, with 12 House Democrats voting against it (including Crespo). That’s when everyone realized Ortiz had left town, so he was verified off the roll call, and the bill didn’t have enough votes to pass.

Over strenuous Republican objections, Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, who had voted “no,” moved to reconsider the vote. That motion carried with 67 votes. (These parliamentary votes generally rely heavily on party unity.) The second try at a concurrence motion received 60 votes, but the Republicans played the old fake-out game and had one of their own, Rep. Randy Frese, vote “yes.”

Numerous sources said Democratic Rep. Larry Walsh was supposed to vote for the bill, but he apparently saw the total hit 60 on the big board and stayed at “no.”

Oops.

After much delay, Frese was verified off the roll call and the motion failed again. House rules barred any more motions. Two concurrence motions are the limit. The bill should’ve been dead. But the Democrats then decided to just go ahead and suspend their own rule. Republicans were incensed, but Gong-Gershowitz again moved to reconsider the vote, which passed 62-42. And then Walsh finally voted for the third concurrence motion and it passed 60-47, more than two hours after debate began at 4:30 in the morning.

House Republican Floor Leader Patrick Windhorst is probably the most even-keeled person in the House, but he let loose. “I think it should be clear to everyone in this state what this super-majority is willing to do to ram a tax increase down the throats of the citizens of Illinois at 4:30 in the morning,” Windhorst said, his voice eventually rising to a shout. “Three votes! Three votes!”

Give Welch credit for persistence. He was duty-bound to pass this package. Failure could’ve been catastrophic for him. But you really gotta wonder if he could’ve possibly mollified a few more of his members before he locked in that budget deal.

Speaker Welch has granted three interviews since the session ended, but he has yet to explain what really happened that night.

…Adding… I posted this on the blog last week, but it might’ve been buried…

State Representative Larry Walsh Jr (D-Elwood) has made the following statement regarding his votes on the budget bills that came before the Illinois House of Representatives on Wednesday.

“Last night was certainly not my preferred solution for moving Illinois forward, but with the full framework of the budget passed and faced with the immediate threat of the state returning to the Rauner years of unbalanced budgets and broken promises, I made the incredibly difficult choice to support Governor Pritzker’s revenue enhancements.

“While I have significant concerns about the path this budget sets us on, I could not in good conscience vote to jeopardize public safety, cause chaos for our public service providers, or allow uncertainty to derail the work my colleagues and I have done to rebuild Illinois’ fiscal house. The cost of inaction was simply too great to stand by and allow the budget to become unbalanced.

“Over the coming months I will be engaging with leadership in both chambers, the Governor, and the other members of my caucus that have legitimate concerns with how this budget was constructed to make it clear that we cannot allow a budget process like we saw early this morning to happen again.”

* Also, from Rep. Terra Costa Howard’s constituent newsletter…

Wow. It’s been less than 24 hours since I left Springfield, after a marathon final session that ended in the wee hours on Wednesday.

I’m going to have a LOT to say about this year’s budget process over the next couple of weeks, but I think I’ll wait until I’ve had a good night’s sleep before I tackle this crucial subject. Stay tuned!

She has not sent an update.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 7:39 am

Comments

great insight. as always

Comment by Central Illinois Centrist Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 8:23 am
Almost?

Comment by Probably should retire soon Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 8:29 am
Like I said last week, plenty of blame to go around and nobody looks good. But Windhorst has no right to be mad about the 3rd vote after sabotaging the 2nd vote. Having Frese vote yes then walk off the floor was an underhanded attempt to thwart the will of the majority. He lost the moral high ground with that childish stunt.

Comment by vern Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 8:29 am
Rep. Aaron Ortiz, had skipped town without telling anyone

This one still confounds me. Baseball comparison, it’s one thing to be in the clubhouse playing cards or something during a game but leaving the stadium entirely and missing a crucial at-bat is a whole different level.

Comment by Bentoh's Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 8:30 am
Oh for the days of the velvet gloved iron fist of Madigan.

Comment by Huh? Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 8:39 am
Crespo voting to spend the money then lecturing everyone about some moral hazard type stuff and voting against raising the money he voted to spend still sits wrong with me. If you’re going to be phoney and self serving you should try to sell it better.

Comment by Perrid Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 8:58 am
great explanation And wow

Comment by Amalia Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 9:02 am
To Vern: So Larry Walsh voting NO 2 times in a row is not the will of the people? Also, JGG could have voted Yes, but she was a possible defensive play to be there in case the votes were not - twice! All part of the rules and inside baseball. What is not a part of the game is to change the rules when you are losing. Are you sure that “high” ground you are standing on is not in the middle of the swamp?

Comment by So let me get this straight? Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 9:08 am
Ortiz is Chuy’s guy. Bet he hears it from Chuy.

Comment by Mr Ed Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 9:15 am
As I mentioned last week, not the best look for Welch. He’s usually more savvy than that, and it sure feels like he got played this time, some of it at the hands of his own party.

Ortiz leaving town is inexcusable, barring some major emergency. And if that was the case, you’d think you might tell someone, no?

Comment by thunderspirit Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 9:18 am
I’m still flummoxed, befuddled, and perplexed by what I watched in the wee hours of that morning.

It was like the assistant general manager of a Irish bar just clocking out at 5pm on St Patrick’s Day and heading home and not telling any one else on the staff he was leaving. Yeah I get talking a walk to a remote bathroom on a vote you might not want to be on but jumping in your car and splitting town? Wild.

Comment by ChicagoBars Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 9:34 am
====but leaving the stadium entirely and missing a crucial at-bat is a whole different level.====
Especially for being a leader. Maybe somebody new and low on the pecking order. But even then. Just tell someone. Inexcusable.

Comment by Been There Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 9:40 am
Had Lawrence Walsh Jr not been outsmarted by the Republicans..

Comment by jolietj Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 9:44 am
Having members of your leadership team casually blow off a significant legislative day might point to part of the problem. Aren’t they supposed to play a roll in helping manage the caucus and whip votes — or is the term “leader” just a title with no responsibility? And “leaders” ghosting may send a bad message to the rank-and-file and give some of them an excuse to go rogue. (“Leader _____ isn’t even here, why should I have to vote for this?”)

I also wonder if the Speaker’s informal 60 vote rule is causing the kind of internal caucus conflict he hoped it would help him avoid.

Comment by Phil Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 10:04 am
Leaders are like eagles, we have none here.
Winners do the work or if you have a super-super majority someone else can do it.

Comment by Spooky32 Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 10:14 am
This shows the importance of staff work. Apparently one side can count to 60 and the other not so much.

Comment by Wilson Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 10:17 am
Agree with Vern. Parliamentary tomfoolery.

Sure the Dems got caught off guard after a long day.

Pretty confident that the Speaker won’t let that happen again.

Comment by Padraig Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 10:36 am
===Sure the Dems got caught off guard after a long day===

Yeah, dismiss it. Sure, Jan.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 10:42 am
You wont read that kind of inside info anywhere else. Great article explains in plain terms to us amateurs. Maybe it can be explained how a “leader” has the nerve to leave town while this type of negotiation was going on. I hope there are repercussions for this. A half hearted apology wont cut it.

Comment by Regular democrat Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 10:47 am
If Rich Miller, who has been covering the statehouse for 30+ years says he’s “never seen anything like it”, you know it was more than just the majority being caught off guard at a late hour.

How Welch emerges now and moves forward will be interesting to watch.

Comment by low level Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 1:42 pm
Welch needs to reevaluate his Leadership team.

Comment by Stumped Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 1:55 pm
==Maybe it can be explained how a “leader” has the nerve to leave town ==

Agreed, and personally I found the apology letter from both reps to be very weak. Its nice they owned up to it but still too many unanswered questions.

Comment by low level Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 3:20 pm
– What is not a part of the game is to change the rules –

First time in Springfield?

Comment by JB13 Tuesday, Jun 4, 24 @ 4:26 pm
“I could not in good conscience vote to jeopardize public safety, cause chaos for our public service providers, or allow uncertainty to derail the work my colleagues and I have done to rebuild Illinois’ fiscal house”

Yet he did two times. Larry Walsh’s constituents need to ask him at what point does he use “good conscience” vs. political expediency.

Comment by A Long Time Coming Wednesday, Jun 5, 24 @ 9:59 am