Moody's Downgrades Illinois Bonds, Revenues Continue Slide

The State Journal Register reports:

Illinois’ bond rating has been cut a notch by Moody’s Investors Service as a new report shows state revenues continue to slide and the pile of unpaid bills continues to grow.

Moody’s cut Illinois’ rating on general obligation bonds from Aa3 to A1, blaming state government’s failure to come up with a permanent solution to its financial problems. Instead, lawmakers relied on a series of one-time fixes to cobble together a spending plan.

“This failure underscores a chronic lack of political will that indicates further erosion of an already weak financial position,” Moody’s said in an opinion about the state’s credit rating.

The report said the state’s credit rating is further threatened by its growing debt burden, large unfunded liabilities for pensions and retiree health benefits, the disparity between spending and revenue and the decision to simply put off paying bills.

Guess who was a reliable vote for the status quo for Illinois' financial situation when he was in the Illinois State Senate?