With Illinois’ unemployment numbers surging amid a global pandemic, and with thousands of laid-off workers struggling to make ends meet — not to mention tanking state revenues — you might think state government would be firing on all cylinders.
You might also think, given the state’s precarious financial condition, that the General Assembly would be meeting in some fashion to address pressing matters, including the completion of a budget. Uh, nope.
House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President Don Harmon have been lying low and canceling legislative session days in Springfield — for safety reasons. Has anyone even seen or heard from Madigan in months? Just because he prefers seclusion doesn’t mean the public and the media should be acquiescing. He leads the party that controls this state.
Normally, the 177-member House and Senate would be scurrying to pass the budget and wrap up the January-to-May spring session. Not now. Due to the coronavirus, legislative leaders have not called lawmakers back to Springfield since they last met in early March. Gov. J.B. Pritzker doesn’t sound impatient. He issued no call to arms Monday, saying instead he hopes the legislature will be in session “soon.”
Yet other elected bodies are figuring out ways to meet and conduct business, including members of Congress in Washington, D.C., where air travel is required of most of them. Last month, the House debated coronavirus relief legislation while wearing masks and taking precautions inside the Capitol. The U.S. Senate began meeting last week with most senators and their staff wearing face coverings.
The Chicago City Council has managed to conduct business via Zoom meetings. And other states with similarly sized state legislatures have been passing budgets and bills.
In Wisconsin, the state’s two chambers called special sessions in April to address coronavirus-related legislation. They met in person and virtually, and have been involved in the decisions about reopening that state’s economy. In Michigan, the House and Senate have met on and off by putting in place plans for safe debate and voting, including closing the chamber galleries to the public to allow lawmakers to socially distance.
Indiana finished its work by March 11 but scheduled virtual committee meetings earlier this month to tie up loose ends.
Meanwhile, our part-time, well-paid lawmakers and the leaders to whom they report can’t seem to figure out how to meet. Maybe they don’t want to.
Why? In addition to health concerns, it’s advantageous politically for Democratic leaders to keep lawmakers home. Madigan can leverage the usual rush to pass a state budget with little interference: If the House and Senate squeak out a budget before the June 1 deadline, it will be under extraordinary time constraints — more than the usual, extraordinary time constraints. How much vetting of the budget will actually take place? You know the answer.
And for Pritzker, a dormant legislature means he can control the pace at which the state reopens its economy, or not, without the distractions of a legislature in session. It has allowed him to make decisions without meaningful challenge.
The one-party control of state government, in a time of crisis and controversy, works to his political advantage. Republicans have called for the legislature to meet. But their superminority status makes them almost irrelevant.
The legislature conveniently missed the deadline to put constitutional amendments on the ballot that voters have long demanded. But you can bet the Democrats’ agenda, however it shakes out, will be pushed through when they decide it’s time to return to the state Capitol.
Never let a crisis go to waste? In their own crafty way, that’s exactly what Democrats are doing.
Editorials reflect the opinion of the baiduhai Editorial Board, as determined by the members of the board, the editorial page editor and the publisher.
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