On March 10, Gov. Pat Quinn delivered his budget address to the Illinois General Assembly in an effort to address a $13 billion dollar deficit. But critics, from Republican state lawmakers to Chicago’s Democratic Mayor Richard M. Daley, said Quinn and the state government are not doing enough.

Quinn proposed more borrowing to cover the state’s bills, budget cuts and a 33 percent hike in the income tax.

“The problems we face today are daunting,” Quinn said near the opening of his speech. “We are in a battle that we must win. We are fighting for Illinois: our state. I believe we can win this fight together, but only if we work together to create jobs, cut costs and move forward.”

Quinn said his plan to “attack the fiscal crisis” has five elements: budget cuts, more borrowing, maximizing federal funds, creating new jobs and improving state revenue. The only part of his address that drew mild applause was when Quinn said his “top priority” was job creation.

“The best way to fight poverty, the best way to fight crime, the best way to keep families together, is a good job,” Quinn said. “We want to make sure there’s a job for every living, breathing person in Illinois who wants to work.”

Republican gubernatorial nominee, State Sen. Bill Brady, could not be reached for comment, but in a public statement, he called it an “embarrassing day.”

“He asked for an extra 30 days, and yet the best he could come up with was a budget that was $4 billion out of balance, a budget that left our vendors holding $6 billion in unpaid bills,” Brady said.

In public statements, other Republican lawmakers rebuked Quinn for proposing $1.3 billion in cuts to public education. House Minority Leader Tom Cross of Oswego, Ill. called it a “scare tactic” that was never going to happen.

Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno criticized the proposed budget for making cuts affecting school children but not slashing from the state’s bureaucracy. Daley seemed to echo Radogno’s sentiment.

“They have to go on a diet,” Daley said of the state government. “[Quinn] told the employees you may take a voluntary furlough day, so no one takes it … Why voluntary? He should take 24 days off, all the top people should take 24 or 25 days off. Why should you allow government to grow when you can’t grow in your private business?”

Daley suggested that drastic changes needed to be made to Illinois’ state government.

“Have we changed anything in state government in 24 years?” Daley asked. “No. Nothing’s changed, and that’s the issue.”

But Quinn suggested severe cuts to the state government would be untenable. He took a clear shot at his opponent for the governor’s chair when discussing what he called “Draconian” cuts. Brady has proposed a budget that would erase the deficit by cutting every area in the budget by 10 percent, something which he has been widely criticized for by Democrats.

“There are some people who say we should just cut across the board until we close our $13 billion deficit and our spending equals our revenues, even if that means Draconian cuts in health, human services, education and public safety,” Quinn said. “But that approach is both heartless and naive, taking a chain saw to our state budget for schools, for health care, for human services and public safety is just plain wrong. It hurts innocent people.”

Along with a proposed 17 percent cut across the board to all high school and elementary schools, Quinn proposed a $300 million cut to the amount of income tax the state shares with municipalities. Quinn also proposed borrowing whatever money was needed to pay the state’s bills, saying that not doing so means the state is “basically borrowing from public schools, colleges, social service agencies and small businesses.”

Quinn asked the general assembly to join him in adding a 1 percent education surcharge to Illinois’ income tax to make up for the $1 billion the state will lose when federal stimulus dollars for education run out on July 1. That hike, from 3 to 4 percent, amounts to a 33 percent raise.

“I believe this 1 percent for education makes sense,” Quinn said. “And I think the people of Illinois will understand.”