By Christopher Wills and Deanna Bellandi
Published on the Huffington Post

Illinois faces a deficit of roughly $13 billion, the largest in state history. The cuts Quinn announced Thursday reduce that, but there's still a $6 billion gap between expenses and revenue in the coming year and about $6 billion in unpaid bills from last year.

That shortfall equals half the budget's general funds, where state officials have broad authority to raise or lower spending.

Quinn had wanted to reduce the deficit by raising income taxes, but legislators ignored that idea. They also refused to say where the budget should be cut, leaving that to Quinn.

"They didn't want to put their fingerprints on any reductions or any cuts whatsoever," Quinn said.

Lawmakers gave Quinn authority to paper over the deficit by taking money out of special funds, borrowing against future revenue and simply letting bills go unpaid until the next fiscal year.

At one point, Quinn seemed to suggest he considers the budget balanced.

"There's no hole left," he said.

Sen. Matt Murphy, a budget expert for Senate Republicans, questioned whether Quinn will actually make the cuts he's promising. He said Quinn's outline contained "a lot more fiction, I think, than fact."

Kristina Rasmussen, executive vice president for the conservative Illinois Policy Institute, called Quinn's cuts "very timid." If he wanted to bring spending into line with state revenues, she said, Quinn should have cut something like $4.6 billion.

She said that in all his cuts, Quinn killed only one program – a fund that keeps schools from losing state money as enrollment dwindles.

"Is that the bold leadership the state needs?" Rasmussen asked.

Read the full article on the Huffington Post.