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predicted, state lawmakers' failure to pass pension reform forced
Standard & Poor's rating service to lower the state's credit rating.
We've now gone from a A rating to an A-minus. It's the second decrease
from the S&P since August.
When the announcement was made
today, state Treasurer Dan Rutherford called an emergency press
conference. He said Illinois' pension liability for state employees has
skyrocketed to more than $98 billion, yet S&P said there's no reason
why Illinois should not be able to pay its bills.
The agency
pointed to the fact that Illinois benefits from above-average incomes,
and lawmakers have an almost unlimited ability to raise taxes and other
revenues.
Yet even after raising income taxes, Rutherford said our lawmakers continue to drop the ball.
"Every
deadline set and inaction occurred will cost a negative issuance,"
Rutherford said. "We now have joined the bottom of the pile. We are the
bottom of the pile, according to Standard & Poor's."
Rutherford
demonstrated, date-by-date, exactly when and how state lawmakers'
failure to fix the state's financial problems has directly impacted our
bond rating. Rutherford urged lawmakers to stop putting pension reform
on the back burner, and to pass legislation now, before it gets even
worse.
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