State Dems Agree To Work On Pension Reform, But Ready To Point Fingers If It Fails
From the Chicago Sun-Times
Illinois’ Democratic leaders agreed Monday to try to get comprehensive pension reform past a stumbling block in the state Senate on June 19, but appeared ready to blame each other if it fails again.
Senate President John Cullerton said he will seek passage of a new bill that will combine a limited pension plan his chamber already has adopted with a broader bill favored in the House. The concern is that the House bill might be unconstitutional, so the Senate provisions could serve as backup.
Gov. Pat Quinn suggested combining the bills during a private conference he called with the General Assembly’s top Democrats. No Republicans were invited to the session, which marked Quinn’s latest effort to get a pension bill on track.
Cullerton and House Speaker Michael Madigan spoke with reporters after emerging from a nearly two-hour meeting with Quinn at the Thompson Center. But the legislative leaders remained at odds with each other. Madigan made no commitment to call a revised bill in his chamber and said the House version of pension reform still reaches the furthest.
“This is like a lot of things in the Legislature,” Madigan said. “You can make it complicated if you want or you could make it simpler.” Madigan said the simple approach would be for the Senate to accept his approach to the pension problem and its unfunded liability estimated at $100 billion.
Read more in our daily News Update...
From the Chicago Sun-Times
Illinois’ Democratic leaders agreed Monday to try to get comprehensive pension reform past a stumbling block in the state Senate on June 19, but appeared ready to blame each other if it fails again.
Senate President John Cullerton said he will seek passage of a new bill that will combine a limited pension plan his chamber already has adopted with a broader bill favored in the House. The concern is that the House bill might be unconstitutional, so the Senate provisions could serve as backup.
Gov. Pat Quinn suggested combining the bills during a private conference he called with the General Assembly’s top Democrats. No Republicans were invited to the session, which marked Quinn’s latest effort to get a pension bill on track.
Cullerton and House Speaker Michael Madigan spoke with reporters after emerging from a nearly two-hour meeting with Quinn at the Thompson Center. But the legislative leaders remained at odds with each other. Madigan made no commitment to call a revised bill in his chamber and said the House version of pension reform still reaches the furthest.
“This is like a lot of things in the Legislature,” Madigan said. “You can make it complicated if you want or you could make it simpler.” Madigan said the simple approach would be for the Senate to accept his approach to the pension problem and its unfunded liability estimated at $100 billion.
Read more in our daily News Update...