Faced with the impossible task of balancing Chicago’s budget without pension reform, Mayor Lori Lightfoot is forced to partially rely on phantom cuts and revenues.

The Chicago Transit Authority’s latest budget proposal includes 25-cent fare hikes.

House Bill 3004 would have put banks and bondholders ahead of taxpayers and those who rely on government services. But Gov. Bruce Rauner’s amendatory veto strips the bill of those bailout provisions.

Bailout bills moving in the Illinois General Assembly would attempt to turn Illinois’ massive debt problems into guaranteed profits for banks and bondholders and a lower standard of living for other Illinoisans.