Illinois House Floor Debate — January 28, 2016

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Please let the record reflect that Representative Reggie Phillips is excused to… this morning."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If I could get the Body's attention. I am very proud and honored to host the seventh and eighth grade girls of… of Lewistown here today visiting the Capitol, and having this Resolution for them. It is… it is very rare, it has happened in the past. But it is very rare to have a state championship team, not one team, but two teams, in the same sport of the same year. And it's an… it's remarkable. The eighth graders finished this year undefeated, and they're actually finishing their junior high record, I believe the record is 58-2, combined for junior high, and they were runners-up last year. So it’s just remarkable. I had a chance to visit with these girls at their school at the pep rally the day of the eighth grade game, and actually honored the seventh graders at… at that time. And I've gotten to learn a lot about this team. And what they have done on the court is… is very impressive. But what is also impressive is what they have done off the court. Each one of these girls is as… as remarkable in school, they have great teamwork, and they are just a great, unique bunch of kids. And… and girls, as I told you then, you have made not only your school proud, but your entire community proud. I was sorry that I couldn’t come back to Lewistown that night for your game, but I was… I was in constant contact with someone giving me text messages all during the championship game, and I was very, very proud of each and every one of you. And you should also be very proud of yourselves, too. So congratulations, enjoy your day, 09900097.docx 3  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 enjoy all of this, and welcome to Springfield. And thank you for being here. Keep up the good work."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, if I could have your attention. We are proud of our home communities, and I am especially wanting to congratulate today, a city in my district that has advanced to the semi- finals of the America's Best Community Competition. The City of DeKalb is one of just 15 communities in the nation, and the only community in Illinois to be eligible to win $3 million to implement its Innovative Community Revitalization Plan. The competition, sponsored by Frontier Communication and others, was created to encourage local leaders in small towns and cities to review, and to be more innovative in their economic development plans. DeKalb identified seven key projects in the area of arts, education, local food, technology, new business startup, leadership development, and community self-esteem. You'll see signs like this, probably DeKalb, all over the community. DeKalb and 14 other community semi-finalists will explain their plans to a panel of judges in North Carolina, in April 26 and 27. The eight finalists will have one year to implement those strategies, and three communities that make the greatest impact and show the greatest potential for achieving sustainable revitalization, 09900097.docx 4  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 will share in over $6 million. Local leaders in every town and city can review these plans and develop their own road maps for revitalization. Illinois should be proud of DeKalb for its efforts, and Frontier Communication for investing in America's Best Communities, and encouraging everyone to live their own 'American Dream'. Thank you, Mr. Speaker."

"I rise for a point of personal privilege."

"I want to talk to you today just a little bit about the REAL ID Act, and the fact that we are one of five states whose Illinois Driver's License is insufficient to access any Federal Government building, or military installation. And I know many of you think that just because we got a two-year reprieve… Could I have some attention in the House, please?"

"I… I think the topic I'm speaking to is something that you're all going to face in your own districts. The idea that we are in… not compliant with the REAL ID Act has, probably, many facets. It obviously is something that has taken over… that was put in place 10 years ago, and we're one of five states who has not complied. Now, I don't know what legislation was filed beforehand. I understand people had privacy issues. The reality is, though, that not only myself, personally, but other people of your constituencies are affected by the problem, that you cannot use the Illinois Driver's License to access a military post. I, myself, unless 09900097.docx 5  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 I get my… the other members in my family a passport, will not be able to attend our son's graduation at West Point in May. My good friend, Jill, whose husband died less than year ago… less than a year ago a… about with… esophageal cancer at a very young age, cannot attend her son's graduation at Navy unless she gets her entire family passports. So what you're doing is you have inconvenienced real people. Representative Reis had a member in his district go to… on a tour, tried to access the Pentagon Tour, was refused, and had to get back on the bus. So I know most of you guys aren’t affiliated with the military. I know you guys say that you're all about veterans, and we pass legislation that way. But the truth is, veterans and their families are impacted by Illinois not being in compliance with the REAL ID Act. You've got a two-year reprieve that you can use this for flights. There is no reprieve if you want to access a military installation, and if you are family of a soldier, a Marine, a Sailor, an Air Force person. If you are family and you can't get on that installation, it is a real problem. And it's also very expensive to get a passport. So I'm just alerting you that we need to work together to solve this issue. We're one of five states that isn’t compliant. Once again, we're at the bottom of the barrel in a long list of things that we are not compliant on. So I would ask this… this Mem… Membership to come together, solve the problem, figure it out, and let's get the job done, for our military and their families. Thank you."

"Thank…

"…you, Mr. Speaker. The Republicans request an immediate Caucus in Room 118."

"Half an hour."

"Will the Sponsor yield?"

"Representative Burke, this an Appropriation Bill, correct?" Burke, K.: "Correct."

"What committee heard this Amendment?" Burke, K.: "The Higher Education Committee."

"I'm just curious why it did not go to the Higher Ed Approp Committee? Can you offer me some thoughts of why it went to Higher Ed. rather than Higher Ed Approp?" Burke, K.: "It's not my decision as to where it goes. But I'm the Chair of the Higher Education Committee, and it was my Bill."

"All right. Well, it's an Appropriation Bill, and I thought Representative Dunkin's committee would have been the appropriate venue for that issue, so I find it rather interesting. Let’s go through this. This is MAP and also community colleges. Is anything in this Bill provide any funding for the University of Illinois at Urbana?" Burke, K.: "No."

"How about the Uni…" Burke, K.: "Well, except the… the MAP Funds that…"

"Any direct operational…" Burke, K.: "…their students will use."

"…at Urbana. How about University of Illinois – Chicago? Burke, K.: "Nope."

"How about Chicago State University. Is there any operational funds for Chicago State University?" Burke, K.: "No."

"How about Northeastern Illinois University?" Burke, K.: "No."

"Northern Illinois University?" Burke, K.: "No."

"Western Illinois University?" Burke, K.: "Nope."

"Any of the Southern Illinois Universities, the two or three of them that are in the south?" Burke, K.: "Nope."

"Eastern Illinois University. Is there any operational funds in that Bill?" Burke, K.: "No."

"Are there any oper… any monies or anything that… in this Bill which would provide operational funds for any of our four-year state institutions?" Burke, K.: "No."

"Why not?" Burke, K.: "As I said before, the amounts… the… the appropriations that are in here are far from the entire Higher Ed Appropriation that was passed in the spring. There are other… the four-year universities are not funded. The Illinois Board of Higher Education is funded. Many of the grants that the Community College Board does… distributes are not funded. And that's because we are not at a point where we're even close 09900097.docx 9  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 to an agreement on the amounts that should be… should be appropriated for those… for those programs. And the one… so what we picked were the appropriations that we're fairly close or actually in agreement on. I would love to have an appropriation for the entire higher education system, but that doesn’t seem that we're at a point where that's possible right now."

"Well how do you… well… my question was, Why not? And I'm not quite sure if it was responsive. But do we print money is this building? Do we have the ability to do that right now?" Burke, K.: "We do not."

"No? Then how do you p… plan to pay for this $721 million that of… will come out of GRF? How do you plan to pay for this?" Burke, K.: "So higher education is a critical service, just as many of the critical services that are currently being funded, and that we have had Bills that also… you know, fund those. So we have… we have students who are not able to return to school. We have institutions that are telling their students that they are not able to advance…"

"Representative Burke, the…" Burke, K.: "…them their MAP money."

"…question is, how are you going to pay for this Bill?" Burke, K.: "If you'd let me finish. We…"

"Please respond to my question. I think you're getting off track." Burke, K.: "Perhaps I'll eventually get there if we listen. We have other… we have other reports of institutions who are not able to tell their students that they can cover the MAP 09900097.docx 10  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 Grants. These are critical services, and we'll pay for them through the… the state's income tax dollars, all the money that comes in through the State. Just yesterday, in the Governor's State of the State, not less than 24 hours ago, the Governor talked about a significant increase in funding for K through 12 education, as well as early childhood education. So where there is a will, there is a way."

"So the way I look at it, there isn’t a revenue source for this. And this is going to be part of the $7 billion of unpaid Bills that if this Bill does pass… this Amendment is adopted, and the Bill passes. I'm not sure if you have received this note from the Director of Management and Budget. Have you seen his memo?" Burke, K.: "Yes, I have."

"States, 'House Amendment 2 to SB2043 provides no funding source to pay for the additional spending and is not tied to spending reductions, revenue, or cost reforms.'" Burke, K.: "So…"

"The Governor's Office… I'm not done. The Governor's Office of Management and Budget concludes that, 'House Amendment 2 to Senate Bill 2043 would add 721 million to the deficit, increase the state's Bill backlog by the same, and delay state payments to providers and vendors.' We don’t have a way to pay for this. We should not be running this Bill today." Burke, K.: "I would say we're in the exact same situation in terms of, you know, a quote 'funding source' for this appropriation as we were when the Governor signed the K through 12 education funding Bill that earlier this… late last year. And also, 09900097.docx 11  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 it's the same funding that is paying for all the Bills that are piling up through the consent orders. And my understanding of the mech… of the mechanics is, if this Bill is passed and the if the Governor signs it, is that it would take about four weeks… for the… for ISAC to process all the MAP paperwork. And then those Bills would get in line just like everybody else. And the Comptroller does have the ability to take into consideration dire situations for individual institutions, and she can prioritize payments."

"Well, we don’t have any money left from those consent decrees. I don’t think that we should be putting this in a… in… in a line like we do in a bankruptcy court. Representative Burke, as long as I've known you, you’ve been a very bipartisan individual. And let me… and I continue with that, no matter what the resolve is today. I think this is a bad Bill but just yesterday, after consideration, I filed House Bill 4521. Representative Dan Brady filed House Bill 4539, which is an Appropriation Bill for higher ed that goes beyond what you're doing. Our Bill will fund higher ed, the universities that I asked you about, that are not being funded in your Bill, the operations. It will fund MAP. And it'll also fund community colleges. And it's tied in with giving the Governor emergency budget relief. We believe, quite certain that, if we pass those Bills, that we would be able to get past this issue with our universities. So I just want to give you exactly what's happened over the last 24 hours. I had a conversation with the Speaker yesterday about this issue. I told him that, you know, this Bill is not a good Bill. It's going to be a problem. The Governor is going to 09900097.docx 12  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 veto it when it comes… if it makes it to his desk. So why don't we try to merge. Let's see if we can reconcile the issues that we are pr… which we presented with your Bill. And as of last night, there was no interest, on behalf of the Speaker, to do that. So I'm asking you. Why don't you take your Bill, your Amendment out of the record? I'm afraid with this… what you're doing with this vote on the Amendment is just a continuation of 'Gotcha' politics. We have a way to be able to reconcile this issue, Representative Burke, and I'm asking you to take your Bill out of the record, and you and I can negotiate this. And when we come back in two weeks, we can either have a deal, or we don't. But I'm asking you, as a courtesy, of not presenting this Bill for a vote. And let's see if we can reconcile the issues that we have presented in our Bills with yours. Will you do that?" Burke, K.: "I appreciate the offer, and I appreciate the time that Representative Brady, and you, and I have spent to try and come to a solution. But I was ready to present a different Bill the last the time we were here, and we chose not to run that as a courtesy to your side, and the idea being that we would have some talks, we would try and get something moving. And during that time, there was no movement from your side. I filed this Amendment, and then your Amendment was filed. I would rather move forward with this Bill, and I would rather keep the discussion going. I fear that if this Bill doesn’t go today, then the discussion will end. So let's vote on this Bill, and then let's keep going with your ideas." 09900097.docx 13  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016

"You have my word that, if you take this Bill out of the record, that we will begin negotiations on your Bill and what we're… what… and our ideas." Burke, K.: "Let's do both."

"You have… no. This Bill is not right. You're going to send to pre… people are going to send to presses release… press releases out that we've solved MAP, and that we've solved community college funding. And that's not right because there's no revenue to pay for this. You shouldn’t be doing this. So Representative Burke, I'm asking you for one last time, to pull this Bill out of the record, this Amendment out of the record, and then when we come back in two weeks, if we haven’t reached some type of conclusion on this or reached a deal, run your Bill. And do what you have. But I'm asking you, as a courtesy, to… from me to you, to not run this Amendment, and let's get this done over the next two weeks." Burke, K.: "Representative, the… the students of the State of Illinois have been waiting 10 long months for some certainty and… and for us to live up to our promises of funding. So I cannot do that. I cannot make the students wait any longer. I'm going to run this Bill. I appreciate your offer to work. I hope it still stands, and let's get the rest of the Higher Education Funding Bill done."

"You know, I… I'm sorry. I disagree with you on every level. And this is a cruel hoax to students who think that they're going to get their MAP funding provided, and also the community colleges' students… get some money out of this, too. I'm very disappointed that the Majority Party is not 09900097.docx 14  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 willing to work with us to resolve issues. We've done that before on some important issues over… just within the last few months. And let me just also say this. It was not too long ago, when Pat Quinn became Governor, in which time he ha… inherited a mess, financial mess. And those Republicans on this side of the aisle said, we're willing to give that Governor emergency budget relief to try to fix some of the problems that he has. And that's what we're asking, for you to work with us, to give that Governor the ability to do it. And we can be able… we could provide for a revenue source at the same time. Your Bill doesn’t do it. I'm recommending that people not support this. It just doesn’t get the job done." Burke, K.: "Rep…"

"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"

"Thank you. Representative, first off, thank you for your efforts on this Bill. Thank you for all the… the discussions we've had over the course of the last, I don't know, month, month and half, maybe longer, somewhere in there, of… of battering around ideas of how we can try and get some resolution to our stalemate in higher education. I do thank you for that, and I know your good intentions. But this is a… a Bill well intended with ill intended consequences. And you, yourself, said there's no… there's no way to pay for it. The Governor's Office of Management and Budget concludes that House Amendment #2 to Senate Bill 2043 would add 721 million to the deficit, increase the state's Bill backlog by the same, and delay state payments to providers, vendors, and 09900097.docx 15  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 contractors. Representative, if the state defaults on MAP Grants, who's ultimately responsible in the contracts?" Burke, K.: "Who's responsible for the tuition? Is that…"

"Correct." Burke, K.: "…what you're saying? The student?"

"To pay for it. The student." Burke, K.: "The student."

"The student. And so, if we don’t have the money to pay for this, which has been acknowledged by you, been acknowledged by the… the Governor's Office of Management and Budget wouldn’t… wouldn’t a provider, or a vendor, or a contractor be those students who are going to have delayed payment?" Burke, K.: "I… I'm sorry. I would… I didn’t hear your question. Could you repeat it?"

"Simply, wouldn’t the students be one of those individuals as a provider, vendor, or contractor under the agreement that's going to have delayed payment, according to the Governor's Office of Management and Budget? Wouldn't they be the very people… individuals you're trying to help, are going to have delayed payment?" Burke, K.: "Well, I think…"

"It… it's just… it's just…" Burke, K.: "…this will… this delayed payment…"

"…counterproductive…" Burke, K.: "…would actually go…"

"…to what…" Burke, K.: "…to the school."

"…you're trying to do." 09900097.docx 16  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 Burke, K.: "Representative, I don’t think that the passage of this Bill means the end of the discussion on the higher ed funding. We have lots of other areas that we still need to get to, so this is not the end of the discussion. I think it's actually sparked a discussion that wasn’t happening before. So I… I understand that there are… you've got concerns, especially with the four-years, and I would love to continue the discussion after today.

"I… I appreciate that, but what we're very concerned with, and… and really all of us are very concerned with, is how we're going to help those students that are waiting for MAP Grant funding. How we're going to help those universities that are waiting for MAP Grant funding. How we're going to help community colleges that are waiting for MAP Grant funding. How we're going to do that is not this Bill, because it's been acknowledged the money's not there to pay. And so, after we go through, and back and forth of the House to the Senate, and the Governor vetoes, and back and forth, and whether we override or don't override, Representative, the spring semester is gone. The spring semester will be over. There is community colleges right now, and other universities, that have told students, we can't up front this anymore for you. We're sorry. But Kelly, even… even if you had express overnight mail with checks, it's not going to put the money in the hands of the students for this spring semester to help them. So your good intentions, which… which I… I wish we could could find some of the other avenues that we've presented to work together on. It's not going to produce what you want to produce, and that's sad. And… and to the 09900097.docx 17  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 Bill, Ladies and Gentlemen. And… and I know that so many of you are going to sign on or be in favor, and support the Representative's Bill, in particular, on the Democrat side of the aisle. That's great. You can go home. You can say that you helped get funding for MAP Grants, if that's what you want to do. But the funding's not coming for MAP Grants under this Bill. It's not going to happen. The money's not there, that's been acknowledged. Yesterday in committee, I can still see Jamie and Will who did an… fabulous job, who are students expecting MAP Grant money, testifying. And what I said to them in committee, Ladies and Gentlemen, was… I don’t know what's worse to you as students. For us to continue to allow you to flounder, waiting for funding of MAP Grants, or have this façade of legislation pass out of the this committee, and you walk out of this committee hearing thinking you're going to get funding for your MAP Grant this spring semester. Now I know each and every one of you here want to do the right thing. You want to help the students that are working so hard, the students that are counting on us, with MAP Grants. This, as well intended as it is, is not going to do that. Do you get that? It's not going to do it. Don’t play this hoax on students that are waiting for funding on MAP Grants. This is unconscionable to do this to those students. Think of the students. Think of the students. If you're not going to think about our state universities, think of the students. They want something tangible that's going to get them funding for MAP Grants. And for those of you who say, well, you don’t have a plan. We do have a plan. Representative Burke knows we have a plan. The Speaker knows we have a plan. And I'd 09900097.docx 18  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 respectfully ask the Speaker to reconsider his line of thinking, and to give us an opportunity to push that plan through, and simply do something substantive for the students that are relying on us to get funding to be able to continue their college education. I intend to vote 'no'."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"

"Representative Burke, thank you for bringing forth partial funding, at least, for higher education. And the students that you brought to committee yesterday I think typify some of the economic stress that they're feeling. But can you help me understand, given the stress that community colleges are under, given the stress of the MAP Program and the students that qualify, given the stress of our universities, like Chicago State, Eastern, Northeastern, Western, that are particularly financially troubled right now, how is it that you just picked out the community colleges and MAP for funding in this Bill?" Burke, K.: "So Representative, what I envisioned this Amendment to be is an attempt to get agreement on things where we are very close dollar wise. And MAP and the funding for community colleges are the two areas of the higher education budget where the Governor's recommended amounts, and… and what was passed in the spring, fairly line up. Not a hundred percent, I understand, but they're fairly close. Those other areas are where… where we had not… I… I'm not even going to say, we obviously didn’t have agreement, but there wasn’t even a discussion going on about how to bridge the… the chasm. And 09900097.docx 19  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 so, the point of this Amendment is to be very laser-focused on the areas where I thought we could have some agreement. And in a perfect world, I would love to have funded every as… have discussed and worked on every aspect of the Higher Education Bill. And I view this as a beginning, and not the end of the discussion on higher education. And I welcome, you know, continued discussions with you. We've had some really productive discussions over the past couple weeks. We clearly need to fund our four-year public universities. How… what level that's going to be at, and where we're gettin… you know, and… and how we get there, is a continuing discussion."

"So have you visited with some of the universities to understand the kind of financial stress they're under, and the desperate state they're in to get any state funding, that they might take cuts at different levels?" Burke, K.: "So they will get, if this Bill passes, and the Comptroller releases the funds, those schools, especially the ones that are… ha… under more financial stress, will be getting some relief in the form of their… their funds for the Monetary Award Program."

"But that’s a pittance of what they're waiting for in terms of state support…" Burke, K.: "So let's keep working at it and let's get it done. But up until now, Bob, no… there was no discussion."

"Well, let's have that in your committee. And maybe…" Burke, K.: "I look forward to…"

"…we can do that the next time…" Burke, K.: "…it as…" 09900097.docx 20  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016

"…since… since you're going to be dealing with appropriations, maybe we can do that next time…" Burke, K.: "I look forward to it as a supplement to Senate Bill 2039."

"'Cause I don’t think…" Burke, K.: "2043."

"…we're that far apart in what universities are willing to sacrifice to help our state in this financial situation, and where our budget is in reaching some appropriation for our universities. So I hope that we can have that discussion quickly." Burke, K.: "I hope so, too."

"But back to the question of funding this Bill, do you have any confirmed information about how much money the state is taking in in revenue right now, what we anticipate for the year?" Burke, K.: "I don’t have that handy, no."

"Have you heard the Comptroller talk about $32 billion?" Burke, K.: "Yes."

"And that's what COGFA has reported, and that’s what we have talked about in our budget discussion. So if we have $32 billion to spend, how much money have we appropriated through direct legislation, through consent decrees, and… and court orders?" Burke, K.: "We don’t have an exact figure because with those consent decrees, it's ongoing. And we could have a long discussion about the wisdom of… of allowing our budget to be 09900097.docx 21  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 run by consent decree, but I think that’s a discussion for another day."

"I know, but those commitments have taken up part of that $32 billion of revenue. And if we look at last year's spending, which is what we have to pay, according to these consent decrees and court orders, you can easily add up how much money we're spending. And again, I think the Comptroller has said, It's well over 90 percent…" Burke, K.: "Right."

"…of our revenue. Is that correct?" Burke, K.: "So we have things that we're spending on that we are not under control of whether or not or of… and how much those comes in. And then, we have programs that continue to not be funded, and we're not spending money on those. So it's, I think, an imprecise calculation at this point."

"Maybe imprecise, but we have financial advisors who are telling us that the unfunded liability is something less than 5 billion, and commitments are over, what, 32 billion. And the point is, we don’t have the revenue, and don’t we, as a Legislative Body, have a constitutional requirement to not spend more dollars than we anticipate for revenue?" Burke, K.: "We… this is not ideal, to be…"

"But it’s unconstitutional, isn't it? Our estimates…" Burke, K.: "We…"

"…are for 32 billion…" Burke, K.: "…we've not enacted a…"

"…our estimates of spending are over 32 billion." Burke, K.: "…we have not enacted appropriations…"

"But it's a spending…" 09900097.docx 22  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 Burke, K.: "…that…"

"…authority." Burke, K.: "…that is, some of it not being in control of the Legislature…"

"I don’t care…" Burke, K.: "…at this point."

"…it's still spending authority. And we're spending money on things that exceed our revenue, and it's unconstitutional. And now we're going to add something short of $800 million beyond that." Burke, K.: "So Bob, we've ma… we've made a commitment to our students and to our universities that these MAP Grants will be funded. We are honoring that commitment. They have gone out on a limb. We need…"

"And we've also… Burke, K.: "…to make good on these."

"…made a commitment to universities and community colleges. We've…" Burke, K.: "As I said before…"

"…made commit… commitments to lots of nonprofits, that we're going to pay them for providing services to our vulnerable citizens. We're not paying them." Burke, K.: "As I've said before, I wish this were a more comprehensive Bill, to address some of those others. We're trying to narrow this down to areas where, at least in theory, we were close to being on the same page. So, let's honor those commitments and let's get the ball rolling on the MAP Grants and the funding for the community colleges. And I look forward to working with you on the rest of the higher ed budget." 09900097.docx 23  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016

"So your comments were, all we have to do is prioritize funding for this 7… $800 million. And… and MAP students can be paid and our colleges can be paid. What programs aren’t we going to prioritize in order to make this extra $700 million payment?" Burke, K.: "That’s going to be the Comptroller's decision. And, you know, the money obviously doesn’t go to the student, it goes to the schools. So the schools will be able to make their cases with the Comptroller as to who… has a more dire situation. And I will leave that to the Comptroller's discretion."

"So isn't that an avocation of our role as a Legislature, to set policy on spending?" Burke, K.: "I think it's practice for the Comptroller, not only this Comptroller, but previous that they have some flexibility in making a determination on in… institutions and state grantees who need funding a little bit ahead of others. I mean we… obviously we all wish that things were being paid in a timely manner, and have… and that's been our… our goal the past several years, is to bring down that backlog of Bills. But the Comptroller does have the authority and… it's worked in practice for many years."

"So, if you're willing to relegate the Legislature's responsibility to set policy to the Comptroller, can we count on your support to give the Governor additional authority in controlling spending and revenue, that is in Representative Durkin's Bill?" Burke, K.: "Yeah… I would not… I've not had a detailed look at the mechanics of Representative Durkin's Bill. I would be 09900097.docx 24  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 willing to discuss mechanisms to make sure that all our critical services are funded. I certainly am not going to commit to a specific plan at this point, but I'm more than happy to undertake the discussion."

"Thank you, Representative for your willingness. I look forward to those conversations. We have lots of important issues and priorities before us, it's time that we deal with them."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Bill. I would echo the… the thoughts of some of my colleagues and… and thank the Sponsor of this Bill for her hard work. And I would never question her intentions for higher education. I think that Representative Burke and I have had a number of conversations. I think our hearts are both in the exact same place. Yesterday, I had an opportunity to talk to the President of Western Illinois University and two of the presidents of my community colleges. I explained this Bill to them. I also shared with them the Bills that our caucus introduced yesterday. I… the response from one of my community college presidents is what rings very true and rings in my mind, when she said, we don’t need any more promises without the money. We don’t need any more promises without the money. And regrettably, that is exactly what is… what this is. And also regrettably, I think that it is… it is terribly tragic that we would be giving money in the form of MAP Funds to some of our private colleges in the State of Illinois, and yet we are not giving any operating dollars to our public universities. I know that that is not the Sponsor's intention. I know that the Sponsor agrees that we need to have a comprehensive higher education Bill. And it has been mentioned that the… the Comptroller could make a decision on the priority of this. There's no priority for the Comptroller to make. There is no money. And for us to ask this Comptroller, or any Comptroller, to choose one provider over another, one agency over another, one service over another, is extremely unfair. So if this Bill should pass, we have heard that the Governor will not sign it. When that happens, I look forward to working with 09900097.docx 31  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 the Sponsor of this Bill and folks on both sides of this aisle to actually fund higher education. Thank you."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Would the Sponsor yield?"

"Thank you. Kelly, I… I don’t think there's a… a Lady on your side of the aisle that I respect more than you, because you know what you're doing, and you do it well, and you do it very politely. And I know you're carrying this Bill for somebody else and… so I get that. But I do have a few questions. I've listened to the debate today, and it seems to me that I've come to the conclusion that politics is too serious for politicians to handle. Would you agree with that?"

"Excuse me?" Burke, K.: "I said, I like your turn of phrase."

"So you agree with that? That politics has been so complicated by politicians that we no longer can handle the job?" Burke, K.: "I think we can handle the job."

"Well, left to politicians, based on our previous history, I'd have to disagree. I don’t think we're very serious, and I don’t think we've handled the job, and I want to talk to that for just a moment. So, we all agree that we have $721 million that we're essentially saying we don’t have, but somehow we're going to make this Bill work and we're going to 09900097.docx 35  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 let the Comptroller figure out how the money is going to be dispersed. Did I hear that correctly?" Burke, K.: "The invoices will be paid dependent on the cash flow at the Comptroller's Office, but she can prioritize, and does prioritize. This is nothing new with this Bill, something the Comptroller currently does and previous Comptroller's have done, where they’ve prioritized payments for invoices that are awaiting payment based on the severity or… or crises that the individual vendor or… or institution is in. This is nothing new."

"Well, how is that going to be done though? Because I don’t think the Comptroller in the State of Illinois can print money, and we don’t have the money appropriated for this Bill. Is that not correct?" Burke, K.: "Did we have an… a set amount of money appropriated for the K through 12 Education Bill? I think not. Did we have an amount of money appropriated for the GRF that was in Senate Bill 2039? I think not. We depend on the cash flow of the tax receipts and other income that comes into the state."

"Well, we have no money appropriated for this Bill, though. Is that not a correct statement?" Burke, K.: "Just like every other Appropriation Bill. This isn't…"

"Well…" Burke, K.: "…in other state funds, this is General Revenue Funds that come into…"

"So…" Burke, K.: "…the state on a daily basis."

"Well, at some point, cash flow is going to run out. Trust me, I understand that… that concept. So what we're asking the 09900097.docx 36  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 Comptroller to do, providing the cash flow is good enough, we're asking the Comptroller to decide whether we would pay for community college, or we pay for the disabled, the needy, people that need Medicaid assistance. Is that kind of the way we are dividing this? Is that what we're asking the Comptroller to do because we can't make good decisions?" Burke, K.: "The Compt…"

"Because we're politicians?" Burke, K.: "…the Comptroller has historically had the discretion to make… to prioritize payments based on certain criteria that she makes the decision on."

"Okay. Turn around and tell, Mr. Harris, who’s sitting right next to Mr. Hoffman, whether or not his appropriated priorities are less important than what is in your Bill, that has no appropriation." Burke, K.: "It… it is not. It's… there's going to be a discussion at the Comptroller's Office on what's going to be paid. People will be in line. And she can make the decision or not make the decision."

"Well, she can only make decisions, Kelly, as you know, on the money that she has on hand. And cash fl… cash flow is an interesting concept. Some days you may have some, some days you may have none. But I think what you're… you're asking the Comptroller to do, and I think it's wrong, is to make a decision about whether or not we take care of those that we all agree are the most needy as opposed to a community college or community colleges." Burke, K.: "So Dwight, my Bill is to provide funding for a critical service which is higher education. That is what I'm advocating 09900097.docx 37  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 for. I'm not making any recommendation or discussion with the Comptroller that she should prioritize one thing over the other. All I'm saying is that she has the discretion to take into account special circumstances and she can choose to use that discretion if she chooses.

"Well, and… and maybe she does and maybe she doesn’t. I honestly don’t know. But the loss pick here is pretty low. In other words, you're saying let's put community colleges up here, but let's put those… the needy people in Illinois down here. Because you can't do both." Burke, K.: "That's absolutely not what I'm saying."

"Okay. So, I talked to two community colleges yesterday. And I explained to them the Bill that you are bringing to us today and I explained Leader Durkin's Bill that Representative Brady had a big hand in crafting. And I think you're familiar, to some degree, with that Bill. And I said, look, what would your choice be? Would you want me to vote for 2403, that has no money and has no place to go and has no support from the Executive Office? And you know what their response was? No. No. I said, does Leader Durkin's Bill seem more reasonable to you, where we have appropriations for community colleges, state universities, and students, that is vis-à-vis the MAP Grants, that has money to pay for it. And they said, Yes. So, I'm going to rely today on what they have told me. Tho… and they're not in my district, by the way. So I… I don’t have community colleges in my district, but I do have a state university who wonders why they're left out. So I'm going to… I'm just going…" Burke, K.: "So…" 09900097.docx 38  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016

"…I'm just going to say they didn’t… they didn’t care for 2403 because they know it's not going to go anywhere." Burke, K.: "So Representative, maybe I'll just kind of recap some of the support that this Bill received in committee. It was largely supported by the four-year state universities. It was also supported by many individual community colleges as well as groups that represent the community college presidents, and I believe the community college trustees… president's association. This Bill has the support of the Fe… Federation of Illinois Independent Colleges & Universities. It is supported system wide. Every facet of higher education is in support of this Bill"

"Well, here… here's the problem. People don’t understand that there was a compromise agreement offered. Now the two community colleges that I spoke to now understand that there is a viable option to get the job be… done better than 2403. That… that's my point. And… so my… I guess my other point that I want to make, it disturbs me a little bit and I know this is not your intent because I know you, but it disturbs me that we have basically said that we don’t want to negotiate, we don’t want to compromise, we want it this way or no way. And I find that disturbing because you're basically saying to every Member of this side of the aisle and Leader Durkin, who worked hard, and Representative Brady, who worked hard, that we're not relevant, that we don’t have good ideas, that we don’t mean anything. And the problem with the process, the reason I think politicians are the problem here, is that we don’t compromise. And the very truth of the matter is that a compromised Bill here would be perfect to get the job done, 09900097.docx 39  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 and instead, you're not playing politics, but people standing, not necessarily behind you today, but your leadership is playing politics. And I think that is awfully cruel because there is a mechanism out there to get the job done, and get it done right. So for the record. Do you…" Burke, K.: "So Re… Representative, if I could just interject for a moment. The… the din in the chamber must have been a little overwhelming, and you did not hear me discuss with the Leader and with other folks that I… there's more work to do on the higher education appropriation budget. I am willing to start the minute this is… this is over, but nothing developed until we put some pen to paper and… and made an indication that we were going to try and move this Bill. And this Bill is an effort at some compromise given the fact that we took the bare bones of the appropr… took some bare bo… made it a bare bones appropriation, and tried to focus on the areas where both sides are somewhat in agreement. So, I… I will… I think you’ve mischaracterized my intent in bringing this Bill, and also future intent. It doesn’t stop. We need to do more work on higher education appropriation, and I pledge to work with you."

"Well. I… I did hear the comments, and I think Representative Durkin was very clear in saying that there was a better way to do it, would you kindly pull your Bill and at least talk about the options? You can always bring the Bill back." Burke, K.: "I think we'll have a very healthy discussion about which is the better way. And that discussion can start tomorrow, this afternoon." 09900097.docx 40  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016

"No, it… but it… Kelly, it needs to start with a real Bill that can be funded, and your Bill doesn’t do it. But that’s been kicked around long enough. I guess just one last comment. It's pretty clear that we've lost the ability in this state to compromise even the smallest of issues. And I'm not blaming you. That’s a… that’s a statement I make to the Chair. Compromise is an art. Compromise is a necessity. And compromise is something that we need to learn to do, and it isn't going to happen. At least I don’t think it's going to happen in my lifetime. Now let me just… let me just say this. We all come here with our big fancy cars and we come here all dressed up and we have fancy belts on and fancy… fancy… Excuse me if that's funny? Pardon me?" Burke, K.: "You’ve clearly never seen my eight-year-old minivan."

"Well, and… but my point is just this. Look around. We come here highly educated, we come here well dressed, we come here well spoken, and we come here with some ideas that are sort of good, and some that are very bad. And it strikes me as being odd, that with all of the perception of who we are, that we're unable to compromise. And I think the art of it is gone. I think we've lost it because we're following the pied piper in some cases. And the pied piper says, We don’t compromise. We don’t negotiate. It's our way or the highway. And Representative, that’s not directed at you, it's represent… it's directed to the Chair, 'cause that’s a sad state in Illinois. And I would tell you that I think politics has become so complicated for politicians that we just can't handle it anymore. Thank you, Mr. Speaker."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"

"Thank you, Representative. I want to… I'm going to go to the Bill quickly this time, and I just didn’t want to misrepresent your words. I wanted to thank you for, kind of, the conversations that we've had in committee. It looks like we may not have those conversations in committee anymore. But… meaning that this is going through the other… it's not going through and… it's going through higher ed. I'm no longer on the committee where this is being run through. But I wanted to thank you for some of the conversations that we had in committee and outside the committee. And I just wanted… I wanted to make sure I didn’t… didn’t misrepresent your words, that you recognized that there are issues in the way we provide higher education and… and the costs associated with it that are… that are not. It… this isn't just a how… how much we're spending or what we have to cut or we have to raise revenue for, that there's other issues in higher ed. Is that correct?" Burke, K.: "That’s correct. And…"

"Okay." Burke, K.: "…you… we've, I think, been very helpful to each other in coming up with the framework for having some of those discussions."

"Thank you. Yeah… to… to the Bill. Some of the issues and… and one of these things was just brought up and I… and I think this has… that's… this was brought up earlier from the Representative that wants a financial transaction tax. We talked about how work comp doesn’t affect higher education. 09900097.docx 42  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 In committee, the University of Illinois gave us a… a report. They're spending an extra $2.3 million because our higher than average work comp cost. Their liability insurance has gone up 1000 percent in 20 years. The issues in higher education and… and a lot of what our state is, it's not about revenue and taxes, it… it's about the way we provide things. It's about bad regulation, unfunded mandates, procurement rules that are difficult for the universities, and if we want to quantify this, and this is important… this is important for MAP. I brought this up before. In… in '14, I know we're appropriating nothing right now, but for comparison purposes, we spent $12,293 pull… per full time equivalent student. The U.S. average was 6,552, and our schools are more expensive than… than the typical school across country. So the difference between those two numbers is $5,741. The point is, we could give every kid that’s going to school in the State of Illinois a full MAP Grant if we just did things in an average way. If we had average work comp costs, average ag… regulatory costs, average procurement costs, without expending any more money from the… from the treasury. That’s the issue here, and that’s the issue we're not addressing, and a lot of these things that were doing. It's not just MAP Grants, it's not funding, it's not taxing more, it's not where you have to cut. It's doing things better, and there are nonpartisan ways that we can work together to do things better. I support that approach, I do not support this Bill. Thank you."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"

"Thanks. My question concerns the intent of the Act. What are we intending to do here?" 09900097.docx 48  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 Burke, K.: "To fund MAP Grants, to fund community colleges base operating and equalization grants and provide matching funds for the federal funds that we already authorized to flow to the community colleges, for adult literacy and… and G… GED and training."

"All excellent intentions. To the Bill. One of the things that I've observed since I joined this august group is that everything we do, we do with the very best of intentions. What we don’t spend a lot of time doing, and what I am challenging this organization to do, is to look at the results of enacting all our good intentions. I'm only going to t… bring up one these results right now, and I'm sure you're very grateful of that. I could bring up many, many results from enacting every good intention that wanders by our… our room here. And one of the results that I want to bring up today is when we look at what happens to these young people when they graduate with their MAP Grants, which by the way, are debt, how much debt does each taxpayer in the State of Illinois, and we certainly hope that our college and community college graduates will be taxpayers, right? Right now, as far as I can tell, it's $25,959. So we'll call it $26,000 a person, that’s what our intentions lead to folks. All this passing Bills, for which there is no funding, all this passing Bill of the day, one offs without looking at the overall budget, without looking at any budget at all, in fact, 'cause we never did pass a budget. We passed 22 individual spending plans. All of this has resulted, in these people we care about, these people we say we care about, all we're doing is adding to the tax burden that they're going to own when they 09900097.docx 49  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 graduate. We need to look at the big picture, we need to look at the overall picture. We need to balance our spending with the effect on our taxpayers, with the effect on our tax base, and with the effect on the future of the children that we claim we care about. Take a look at the results. It’s not all about good intentions folks. We have to look at the results of our actions. Thank you."

"Thank you. In regard to something that my colleague from the other side of the aisle said about MAP Grants, I too was a recipient of MAP Grant, and am the first generation in my family to even graduate from high school. What I can tell you is that when you are… when you're dependent upon a MAP Grant, and all the… and you think you're getting that MAP Grant, so you adjust your work schedule, you adjust your family schedule, and you think that you're going to get that money, and then the state doesn’t come through with that money. That is more detrimental than being told that you're going to get a MAP Grant and that… and… and be planning on it. In this case, there is no funding mechanism for this. So once again, and again to one of my colleagues from the other side who said, we need to come here and do our jobs. We need to come here and do something. How about if we come here and do something that’s actually going to move forward? Clearly we know that the Governor is not going to sign this Bill. Clearly we know that people will be able to go back to their districts and beat their chests and say, 'Yes, I voted to fund MAP Grants,' knowing that those MAP Grants are not going to be funded. When we do have two Bills that would fund our community colleges at 90 percent, fund our universities at 80 percent, and yes the funding mechanism for that is not perfect, but there is the offer on the table to sit down and 09900097.docx 51  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 negotiate that. So I… I'm just wondering why do want to come here each time and have Bills that we know are fake, we know are not going to go forward, just so we can go home and say that we've done something when we really have the ability right now to work on something together to get relief for these real families, of which mine was one. Where we can actually say to them, 'Yes, you're going to get your MAP money, and yes, it's real.' So I'm going to be a 'no' vote on this, and… and I would love to be able to sit do… I have five community colleges peripherally in my district, one that sits in the district, and… and a university. So I want this funding to be there, I want these kids that are going to school, and adults who are going back to school, to know that they're going to get the funds and not just be told that it's going to be there, and not be there. So I would welcome the chance to sit down and work on something with you, but not this Bill. Thank you."

"To the Bill, Mr. Speaker. Representative Burke, thank you for your efforts, they're appreciated. Without a doubt, whenever you present a Bill, I know it's genuine. I was intending to speak, frankly, to what the Minority Leader offered Representative Burke, but most importantly what he offered the Speaker. And that was a conciliatory path towards maybe some bipartisanship coming on the heels of what some folks can say, maybe, was disingenuous in their minds. But on its face was an olive branch towards trying to get something done. Yesterday's message, not 24 hours ago, was a message that I thought maybe we could get something done. And so, while the… the previous Gentleman mocks efforts of Representative Brady and the… and the Minority Leader, those were real proposals. Those were proposals to pay for MAP Grants, to fund junior colleges, to fund four-year universities. And, Ladies and Gentlemen, it would do so faster than Representative Burke's Bill, because what Representative Burke can't do after it passes here on a bi… on a partisan basis, is change the Senate's Calendar. And what Representative Burke can't do is make the Governor not veto this unfunded Bill. Because, as others have said, there's no money for this. This isn't going to happen. So when the… when the… the previous speaker says, we're the Body of 'no', I wonder where he's been for eight months? Oh, that’s right, I know exactly where he's been. He's been on that podium 09900097.docx 57  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 constructing and conducting artifice after artifice. We wasted the summer, basically because of the… the Speaker and his instruments, the Gentleman before me, who hauled us down here, and never once… Yes, Sir, you are an instrument of the Speaker. You call us minions? You're a minion. Here’s the bottom line. We wasted time when we should have been looking at a holistic budget. Instead, we had Second Readings on sham, mystical budget analysis, and mystical votes that were only intended for politics, not policy, and not substance. So yesterday, as a reminder, was an olive branch. And Representative Brady, and Leader Durkin filed legislation, and I know there's a Gentleman from Highland Park that doesn’t like it. Okay. We put out a Bill. We put out a funding Bill, an appropriations Bill to actually do what you're pretending to do. So when you vote 'yes' on this, Ladies and Gentlemen, you're not funding a thing. You're not providing Map Grants. Here's why. So this Bill goes over to the Senate, they're waiting for it right now. They're going to vote on it. Great, goes to the… the Governor. 60 days later he vetoes it, right? We're already… that's how it's going to go. And by the way, the Senate can… read it today, first time. They're not… unless they're going to suspend the rules, they can't address the Bill on its merits today. So we're… they're… they're back February 10. What we can do now, and… and I… the Gentleman from Chicago that spoke earlier, we should be down here. We should vote on Representative Brady's Bill. We should fund MAP Grants. And that’s what we're for, Gent… the Gentleman from Skokie. We're for MAP Grants. We're also for four-year funding of… of colleges and funding junior colleges with real 09900097.docx 58  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 money, not illusory dollars. And the idea that we're going to put this on the Comptroller, so that she has to play the game of… she's already got $7 billion in unpaid Bills, of stiffing another social service provider. Or, another unit of government. Stiff them to pay this. Guys, it doesn’t work. So yes we should be down here on a holistic budget, yes we should be addressing this Bill from a funding perspective. The idea that we'd have to hear a lecture from the Gentleman who conducted the summer artifice is not lost on me. We spent no time in genuine Session, we spent overtime in artifice Session. Look it up, farmer, Gentleman, banker from McHenry. I know, it's a more than a one syllable word. So the… the bottom line here is, let's get past the name calling, let's get past it. Let's address a real Bill. House Bill… there's two Bills we should be addressing. House Bill 4539 and Hou… and Senate Bill 2349 are paths to actually fund MAP Grants, junior colleges, and oh yes, four-year universities. We're not the Party of 'no', we're not the Party of shrug your shoulders. We're the Party of ideas. How about you guys meet us half way? How about we actually engage in a conversation? How about we not act in the extreme, but rather in moderation. Meet us half way. You'll do your constituents a service. Yeah, I mean it. Come… come meet us halfway. Put the Bill on the board, and you can vote for it. No you haven’t, and… Mr. Speaker, I'm happy to entertain the Gentleman here, or anyone who wants to speak. But shouting at me is not really meeting halfway, and it's not really conciliatory." 09900097.docx 59  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016

"Thank you. How about we end the game because this Bill is a game. It's not funding MAPs, and let's talk about funding MAP Grants. Let's talk about junior college funding and four- year funding. Let's do it. This doesn’t do it. And as a reminder, Leader Durkin threw out another conciliatory olive branch and said, let's work together. He had… he gave his word that we would actually negotiate that Bill. You don’t have to believe anyone else, but this Gentleman's earned his reputational capital. We're offering to talk about a substantive way to fund four-year colleges, MAP Grants, and junior colleges. Will you not meet us halfway? If you vote on this, you know it's not going anywhere. I hope then after that go… that fails, you will say, yes, we'll meet you halfway, and start working for our constituents than rather continuing with this sham and artifice. Thank you, Mr. Speaker."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. To the Bill. I want to thank Representative Burke for her work on this Bill. I just want to have a few comments on where we're coming from on this side of the aisle, especially in reaction to Leader Lang's comments. Of course this side of the aisle cares about autistic children. Of course this care… this side of the aisle cares about childcare. We've spent the last couple of weeks trying to help personal assistants be able to get the money that they need from the Federal Labor Law to stay in their 09900097.docx 60  STATE OF ILLINOIS 99th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 1/28/2016 homes and take care of their children. Of course we care about all these things. But we also care about the number one issue that's facing all of us in our state, and that is $9 billion of unpaid bills. $9 billion of unpaid bills. How are we going to continue to move forward and keep having false hopes for all kinds of other people in the social services, in education, in kids at risk, all the wonderful programs that we have. How are we going to move forward with $9 billion of unpaid bills? If we don’t address that issue, we're going to end up… it's like what happened in Detroit, what has happened in other places. Today in the Chicago Tribune, there is an article that the Chicago Public School Systems, they are three layers below junk bond status. Is that what we want for the State of Illinois? Do we want to be downgraded again? That’s the fact that we have to look at right now, and then address these important issues that we must address. Of course we all care about the kids and the MAP Grants. We have the finest universities and colleges, community colleges in the United State of America, and we want to keep our students and our children in those schools. But the number one issue that we here in this chamber are responsible for is the fiscal responsibility of the State of Illinois. And I think that is the issue that we all have to address first and then move forward from there, solve that problem and then continue on to these top priorities that we're discussing right now. Thank you."