Ill. Senate panel to search for budget fix

A group of Illinois senators has been handed the tricky job of finding ways to dig the state out of a budget deficit.

The new Committee on Deficit Reduction is supposed to consider spending cuts, tax increases or anything else that might close a budget hole estimated at more than $9 billion.

Senate President John Cullerton calls the situation "a crisis" that may require both cuts and tax increases.

The committee will have an equal number of Democratic and Republican members. It will ask constitutional officers, the governor's office and other agencies to weigh in on what the state should cut and what it shouldn't.

The committee will make its recommendations a week after Gov. Pat Quinn proposes his budget plan March 18.

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