Gov. Pat Quinn has used his line-item veto power to make minor cuts to a $35.7 billion state budget plan he has called ``incomplete.''
In a statement Monday, Quinn says he's eliminating $250 million for renovations of the state Capitol. The Chicago Democrat also says the state will sell nearly half its airplanes.
Lawmakers passed the spending plan for the fiscal year that begins Tuesday after Democratic leaders couldn't find enough votes to extend Illinois' temporary income tax increase.
Quinn had lobbied in favor of the extension in the midst of a tough re-election campaign against Republican Bruce Rauner, who opposes it.
The lawmakers' plan doesn't allocate enough money to cover state expenses. It uses special funds for day-to-day operations and banks on possible future increases in revenue.
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Gov. Pat Quinn has through Monday to act on the state’s budget.
Quinn is expected to sign the $35.7 billion budget proposal approved by lawmakers in May.
“We’ve been examining the bills as they passed,” Quinn said. “We’ll have to take action by Monday. The fiscal year begins Tuesday, and so we’ll be working on that through the weekend.”
Quinn had favored making the temporary income tax increase permanent to avoid an estimated $2 billion decline in revenue, but the proposal didn’t have enough support from lawmakers. The budget, however, kept most spending flat despite that projected loss of revenue.
Quinn has called the budget “incomplete,” but had ruled out calling legislators back to Springfield for a special session to work on it further.
