Proposed Ill. budget held up by Senate president

Gov. Pat Quinn declined comment Wednesday on a parliamentary maeuver that kept the bare-bones budget passed by the Illinois General Assembly over the weekend from coming to his desk,

The budget would have kept state agencies running during a financial crisis, but little else. But State Senate President John Cullerton quietly blocked the budget after lawmakers voted on it, holding it in the Senate instead of sending it to Quinn, who said he wouldn't sign it.

Quinn spokeswoman Katie Ridgway said the governor will keep working to pass revenue to support a fair and balanced budget Cullerton, Quinn and House Speaker Michael Madigan -- all Chicago-area Democrats -- support raising taxes to avoid the worst of the cuts that would be required to close an $11.6 billion budget deficit. The Senate approved a tax increase, but it failed in the House.