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| FIRST ON WGIL: Moffitt, Risinger React to Quinn's Budget Address |
POSTED 4:15pm 3/18/09 Two local lawmakers say they're glad it was Governor Pat Quinn giving the budget address this year in Springfield and not Governor Rod Blagojevich, but say they're not ready to give the spending plan their seals of approval just yet.
Both 74th District State Representative Don Moffitt, and 37th District State Senator Dale Risinger, say the mood in the statehouse during the address heard live Wednesday on WGIL was much better than in previous years, but also say Governor Pat Quinn's plan to increase the income tax up to five-percent just doesn't make a whole lot of sense just yet.
Moffitt tells WGIL there's only one way he could sign off on an increase. "I want to make sure that it would be applied to deficit reduction, getting caught up on our bills, paying our bills," Moffitt said. "Then it needs to fund our Teachers Retirement System. (TRS) has been underfunded for years."
Risinger tells WGIL the public shouldn't believe how Quinn sold the proposal.
"I don't like (Quinn's) tax increase proposal," Risinger said. "And, contrary to what he says, it's the largest tax increase that the State of Illinois has had."
Risinger says he was taken aback a little bit by Quinn saying that if lawmakers wanted to criticize his plan, they should come up with a better plan. The Peoria Republican says that's "a little disingenuous."
Moffitt, though, says Quinn's tradition has been to build consensus, and believes that will happen here, too.
(State Sen. Dale Risinger, left, and State Rep. Don Moffitt, right, listen to Governor Pat Quinn's budget address in Springfield Wednesday. WGIL News Story by Will Stevenson. Photo submitted.) |
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| 03 18 09 by Newsroom |
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