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Local Lawmaker Says Budget Needs To Be Fixed Now
A local lawmaker says he agrees that it's now crunch time in order to keep state government operating, but he says now doesn't mean July 14th.

74th District State Representative Don Moffitt says now that Governor Pat Quinn has officially vetoed the 50-percent funded state budget lawmakers passed last month, the General Assembly shouldn't wait until a scheduled July 14th special session to override it -- he says it should be done now.

Moffitt tells W-G-I-L he thinks he knows why the July 14th date was chosen, but why wait until then.

"July 14th I believe is the date of the next payday for the bulk of state employees - that's probably why that date was selected but I think we should be meeting now. And continuing to meet at least the Governor and the four leaders. Of course, our leader keeps us very informed. We have frequent conference calls where he updates us on what discussion is taking place and asks our input."

Leaders in Moffitt's own party have blamed some of the debacle on continued disagreements in the state Democratic Party, and while Moffitt says some blame can squarely go to ousted Governor Rod Blagojevich, he says the time for finger-pointing isn't now.

Moffitt says a one-month budget would have been much better than none at all until a better plan could be worked out.
07 01 09 by Newsroom
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