Governor Pat Quinn is disputing a fellow top Democrat's statements that Illinois' nearly 100-billion-dollar pension shortfall is not a crisis. Senate President John Cullerton has said that the pension shortfall is not an imminent crisis, but finding a solution can keep the state's income taxes down.
Quinn is taking a different view.
"I think it is a matter of extreme emergency. It's urgent -- whatever word you want to use."
He says there's opportunity to solve the problem in the next few weeks. A bipartisan committee working on a pension overhaul is split over a plan that saves 138 billion dollars over 30 years.
Cullerton says the expiration of the temporary income tax increase in 2015 will put more pressure on state spending than pensions. Quinn, however, declined to address the income tax situation.