Last evening, the Illinois House passed a stopgap FY 2011 budget (HB 859) by a 66-50 margin, one that relies on $4 billion in borrowing to cover payments for the state pension system and gives Gov. Pat Quinn broad authority (SB 3660) to decide how to spend the state’s limited resources in the coming months. The body also approved a tax-amnesty bill (SB 377) that proponents hope will raise another $250 million.

Left unaddressed is the state's enormous backlog of unpaid bills, expected to grow to $6 billion by the end of the fiscal year. The amount of funding over which the state has complete discretion will drop roughly $1.3 billion from the current budget, although a series of additional cuts introduced by a bloc of suburban Democrats were defeated in committee. The Senate will take up some of the House-approved budget measures when it returns to Springfield today.