Legislators' extra long holiday

E-mail this story

Print this story

Share

Many of us are on vacation this weekend. We’ll spend some time with our families and friends, doing what Americans do best: Being patriotic and grilling meats.

Our legislators probably have similar activities planned for this weekend.

But while most of us will drag ourselves back to work on Monday, legislators can keep chilling until July 14, when they’re scheduled to return to Springfield to talk about the budget.

You know – the budget that doesn’t exist. The one that’s needed to pay for state services (and keep track of how much the state will bring in). The one that legislators and Gov. Pat Quinn can’t seem to compromise on.

It’s an urgent matter – don’t let the long vacation fool you into thinking it isn’t. While we’re barbecuing, employees at organizations that provide services for our most vulnerable citizens will be worrying about their clients, their agencies and their jobs. And clients and their families are wondering how their lives will be affected. No one seems to know where the money will come from to help these organizations continue to function.

While legislators may be spending the next week and a half pondering this problem, they won’t be able to DO anything about it because they won’t be in session.

There is a maddening amount of shrugging and  “I-don’t-know”-ing in Springfield and an even more maddening lack of action.

We know a lot of legislators will use the time away from Springfield to speak to constituents, to visit places and people in the district, to do a lot of listening. That’s great. These are some of the things we hired legislators to do.

But the very appearance that the budget isn’t a screaming priority irks us. Legislators should be in Springfield, putting vigorous effort into passing a working budget. The fact that legislators left Springfield on June 30 and won’t return until July 14 should set constituents’ tempers aflame. This isn’t the time to walk away from the table for two weeks.