State has no budget as General Assembly adjourns

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[With a May 31 deadline looming, the General Assembly went home last Friday without approving a budget for the state.

House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) said the lawmakers will come back to Springfield for "one or two days, hopefully no more" whenever final preparations are settled.

"When things are right, we'll get everybody together," Governor Pat Quinn told reporters after the General Assembly adjourned.

It's back to the drawing boards for Quinn and Democrat leaders. Budget plans formulated by them failed to garner approval from Democrat or Republican legislators.

Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) had pushed a proposal to skip a $4 billion payment to the state's pension systems, but the House didn't address it before the adjournment.

Rep. Bill Black (R-Danville) called the budget impasse "an absolute dysfunctional mess." He compared Democrats to first graders in a fire drill.

Madigan offered two budget alternatives, both of which failed with 99 votes against each measure. One of Madigan's proposals called for borrowing, the other called for massive cuts.

A proposal to add a one dollar a pack cigarette tax and a sales tax holiday in mid-August for back-to-school purchases were tabled.