Quinn to Deliver State of the State Address Wednesday Jan. 13th at 12 PM—Live Coverage on AM 580

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn delivers his State of the State Address, Wednesday, January 13th, at 12 noon. WILL-AM will broadcast Illinois Public Radio's live coverage of the speech before state lawmakers in the House chamber of the Illinois Statehouse in Springfield.

Barbara Flynn Curie is a fellow Democrat in the Illinois House. She says she still supports the governor's call for an income tax hike to reduce the state's multi-billion dollar

"I do think that it's critical if we want to maintain services for the vulnerable, people who are our responsibility, we really have to do the job", says Flynn Curie.

Curie says she thinks the governor should blame the state's dire financial situation on the global recession rather than over-spending on the part of lawmakers.

Meantime - the top Republican in the Illinois House, Minority Leader Tom Cross, says there's more room for cuts in the state budget - before lawmakers talk about raising taxes. Cross says the economy is the biggest issue facing the state..And he thinks there are better ways to improve the state's bottom line than Governor Quinn's plan to raise the income tax.

"I think the governor and many of his colleagues on his side of the aisle, the income tax hike is the easy way to address some of these issues", says Cross. "The tough issues are the issues of reform."

Cross says the state should look to make budget cuts before raising taxes. He says that would save money - and help lure businesses into Illinois.