Pat Quinn on Social Security

Balance budget by reforming our public pension systems

This is a choice about whether we'll make the tough decisions necessary to balance our budget by reforming our public pension systems, or whether we will let our jobs, our safety, and our schools be squeezed out by skyrocketing pension costs.

We have a tall task ahead of us. This is no small issue. And doing what's hard isn't always what's popular at the moment. But, we must remember that hard is not impossible.

We cannot allow our economic recovery to be held hostage by the pension crisis. We simply must act. Our vision for our Illinois cannot be fully realized without pension reform. This problem cannot be delayed, deferred, or delegated to the next session, or to the next generation.