Top U.S. House Republican rejects federal guarantee for Ill. pensions

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

The No. 4 House Republican in Congress Tuesday shot down Gov. Quinn’s trial balloon of possibly seeking federal help to ease the state’s crushing $86 billion pension shortfall.

Quinn floated the idea in the fine print of his 2012 budget proposal last week, but U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) began laughing Tuesday when asked about the chances of a federal pension bailout for Illinois and other states with retirement systems that are financially underwater.

“There is no appetite in the House for a federal guarantee for a state pension obligation. None. It’s a non-starter,” said Roskam, the U.S. House’s chief deputy whip and highest-ranking Republican in Illinois’ congressional delegation.

“Given the types of choices Congress is under right now and the budget-cutting pressure that moved $100 billion in cuts, there’s no way this House will take on any more obligations, particularly bailing states out of decisions they’ve made,” the Wheaton Republican told the Sun-Times.

It can be expensive to pay PE teachers $191,000 a year and then give them a pension! That's why the Chicago Democratic Machine was hoping they'd loot federal taxpayers.