Extended session likely to be extended

Budget negotiations continue to drag on. House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President Emil Jones continue to meet with members to identify budget priorities in a lean budget considerably smaller than the one billion dollars of new spending proposed by the Governor.

The Governor's "jobs bill" appears dead lacking the supermajority vote needed to pass a capital budget bill. Republican members of both the House and Senate will not vote for a capital bill prior to the November general election. The Governor proposed a 3.4 billion dollar capital construction bill for roads, school construction and other infrastructure improvements that, according to Guv, would produce over 200 thousand new jobs.

Widly rumored that the budget would not be complete by Wednesday, April 12th. The rumors suggest that the House and Senate will adjourn Wednesday for the Passover and Easter holidays and return Monday, April 17th to finalize the '07 budget.