Click The Pic
Posted on 07/06/2017 5:13:52 PM PDT by digger48
The Illinois House voted to override Republican Governor Bruce Rauner’s veto of the income tax hike and budget bill. This is the first budget Illinois has passed in two years.
The House voted 71-42, which is the bare minimum House Speaker Mike Madigan needed, after a security incident delayed the vote for two hours.
The House passed the tax hike and budget bill on Sunday with 72 votes, including 15 Republicans. A few flip flopped, according to The Chicago Tribune:
On Thursday, there were some slight changes. One lawmaker who previously voted for the income tax hike on Sunday, Republican Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer of Downstate Jacksonville, voted against the override. Democratic Rep. Sue Scherer of Decatur had voted against the tax hike on Sunday but voted in favor of the override Thursday. In addition, Rep. Robert Pritchard of Hinckely voted for the tax hike Sunday but was absent Thursday.
The Republicans lacked five representatives with excused absences. One of those voted yes for the bill on Sunday.
Rauner lashed out at the bill on Wednesday as he went around Springfield to try to change the minds of those who voted for the bill. From ABC7:
The first-term governor, already facing several Democratic heavyweights hoping to displace him in the 2018 election, took to the trail Wednesday to implore the House – run by Speaker Michael Madigan of Chicago – to sustain the vetoes.
“This is not just a slap in the face to Illinois taxpayers. This is a 2-by-4 smacked across the foreheads of the people of Illinois,” he told reporters at a bar on Chicago’s far South Side. “This tax hike will solve none of our problems. In fact, in the long run, it will make our problems worse, not better.”
The bill includes an income tax and corporate tax hike and a budget plan of $36 billion:
The budget plan would spend more than $36 billion on primary and secondary education, colleges and universities, social services, medical care for the poor and other government functions, with nearly $5 billion in new taxes to help pay for it. The personal income tax rate would rise from 3.75 percent to 4.95 percent. The corporate tax rate would go from 5.25 percent to 7 percent. The plan also would have the state pay down about half of the nearly $15 billion pile of unpaid bills through a combination of borrowing and using cash from other state accounts.
Illinois’s crating rating is still just a notch above junk. Madigan got all excited because Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings urged Rauner to sign this bill on Sunday. But Fitch told Madigan to calm down because even with the override, nothing guarantees these rating companies will not drop Illinois to junk. From The Chicago Sun-Times:
During that lag, Moody’s Investor’s Services on Wednesday offered a stark reminder, placing the state’s current rating of Baa3 “on review for possible downgrade.” Moody’s and two other credit agencies had warned lawmakers of a “junk” downgrade should they not enact a budget by July 1. But last week, S&P and Fitch called the passage of the budget bills progress.
Still, according to Moody’s, “despite the progress toward budget balance” in the legislative package, “… the plan appears to lack concrete measures that will materially improve Illinois’ long-term capacity to address its unfunded pension liabilities.”
That’s because the budget bill lacks…A LOT. Illinois has “unpaid bills to state contractors and vendors that’s reached about $14.5 billion and roughly $130 billion in unfunded pension liabilities.” Last Friday, a judge ordered the state to “start paying $293 million in state money toward Medicaid bills every month and an additional $1 billion over the course of the next year.”
The House should have started its session at 1:30PM CT, but emergency officials had to lockdown the building “after a woman allegedly threw a powdery substance in the governor’s office.”
Last one out of Illinois, please turn out the lights!
No lights to turn off. They can’t pay the electrical bill.
The Democrats displaying their ultimate death wish.
Filthy “republican” traitors.As if fighng the democrats isn’t enough we have to deal with these picks.
Filthy “republican” traitors.As if fighng the democrats isn’t enough we have to deal with these picks.
If there’s unbiased justice, 2 of those 3 credit rating agencies should still knock Ill.Annoyed down to Junk, based on the $130 billion in unfunded pension liabilities.
Don’t come to WI, please. Walker may need to erect a border wall.
So glad my family left this hell hole.
The average retired teacher costs the state 2.2 million dollars. the average retired government worker 1.6 million. Is it any wonder we are bankrupt? I don’t want to move, but I think I am going to have to.
Illinois will never run out of other people’s money.
Or ...
There are 51 GOP house reps in Illinois. They could have blocked this clusterchuck of a bill.
Why on Earth would you expect a Republican to do the right thing?
Illinois has its very own swamp, slimy creatures of both parties inhabit it.
Just great..... More Illinois license plates in west Michigan.
I think I spend 25% of my day driving behind a picture of Abe Lincoln.
Now these Republicans are going to lose their seats. Because the conservatives will have already left or refuse to support them and the libs will just vote for the Dim replacement.
We’re dead Jim.
We still have room in Indiana for good people and companies.
But we might have to enact a liberal ban if we can’t vet them properly.
Illinois spends 3.85 BILLION annually on the care and feeding of ILLEGAL aliens. Correcting this mistake will help mitigate the Illinois money bleed.
Politicians are some of the dumbest people I know of. The best and brightest of society rarely,if ever,are the ones who go into politics. Running government is a serious matter and it’s left up to buffoons because most people who vote are just as stupid..
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.