"We're not going to do what we did the last two years," said Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago. "This will be a better budget process."

The legislation that was sent to the governor allocates $7.8 billion for required contributions to government pension systems and repaying some of the money Illinois has borrowed by selling bonds.

Cullerton said that will leave about $26.5 billion to cover all other government expenses — about $1.2 billion less than the spending proposed by Quinn. The House uses a lower revenue estimate, meaning a bigger gap between income and expenses.

Now, legislators will figure out what to cut, Cullerton said. "It's going to be very difficult," he warned.

Republicans criticized the idea of passing a major piece of the budget before making decisions about where to cut or how to meet other obligations, such as the billions Illinois still owes to community groups, schools and businesses.

"I do think this is a piecemeal process," said Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno, R-Lemont. "We need to be talking about the whole financial plan for the state going forward."

She called for the governor and legislative leaders to negotiate the outlines of a budget.

That would settle questions such as how much money to assume the state will take in, what to spend on broad categories like education and whether to borrow money to pay the backlog of old bills, as Quinn has proposed.

It's not clear what Quinn would do with the spending bills that were sent to his desk Friday.

If he wants to pressure lawmakers to accept his budget proposal, or at least pass a plan closer to his, he may not want to approve the bills. He could veto them or simply hold them until a final budget deal is approved.

The governor's budget office gave state agencies until Wednesday to report back on the impact of cutting spending this late in the fiscal year. The current budget ends June 30.

Vaught said Quinn would decide within a week or so of getting the reports whether to order the cuts. Quinn has already withheld nearly $500 million in spending that was allowed in the current budget, Vaught said. He said the additional cuts are being considered because of worries over cash flow and the Legislature's failure to act on Quinn's proposal to pay billions in overdue bills by borrowing.

Cullerton's budget actions and the Republican response have political, as well as policy, implications.

Republican lawmakers have often accused Democrats of spending too freely. They have called for deep cuts to education, health care and more.

Cullerton challenged GOP senators to put those proposals into legislative form so they can be debated, implying Republicans may be afraid to go on the record voting for some of their ideas.

"It would be amazing for them not to actually introduce their proposals," Cullerton said, while disclosing nothing about where he thinks spending should be cut.

Radogno accused Democrats of wanting to arrange "a series of partisan roll calls and then turn around and use them in campaign brochures."

___

Associated Press writer Zachary Colman contributed to this report.