Illinois cuts spending by 5%, postpones pension pay 3.7billion

There was a hard fought battle in the Illinois Senate as they tried to pass a 57 billion spending package late Thursday night. The middle of the night debate was one of the most bitterly partisan roll calls of the year. The plan was past over to the house with GOP opposition at about 1:00 am. One Repub. Sen. Matt Murphy said" this is the definition of insanity". Republicans said the bill amounted to phony populism and the state can't afford because it owes tens of millions of dollars to universities and social service providers. The 3.7 billion pension payment would be deferred until January when the new Governor would take over. To me as a little person in this mess it sounds pretty scary. What if they can't pay this money into the pensions? And what if there is no money to pay the universities? How much further can they get behind in pension payment before it hurts the little people like us? Or do we even count in the grand scale of things?