Former Governor Pat Quinn made a rare public appearance in Champaign as the state entered its fourth month without a budget.
Two months after Republican Governor Bruce Rauner ousted Quinn last November, the state's income tax automatically decreased, along with it, state revenue for this year.
The longer the state's budget impasse goes on, the bigger the gap will get between what the state's spending and the state's bringing in.
Quinn had campaigned on extending the 2011 income tax hike, but when Rauner won, the tax slid back.
Quinn says he doesn't feel responsible for the growing backlog of bills piling up as a result.
"Now I think it's the job of the governor to realize and tell the truth that Illinois has to use revenue from the income tax in order to properly balance the budget and pay the bills. He didn't do that last year. He said something else and now the chickens are coming home to roost."
The democrat says the state's budget crisis is "disappointing" but it won't be *him* trying to solve it; when asked, Quinn said he will not be running for office next year.