"Step one in righting our course is agreeing on what defines fiscal sustainability."
"Step three in this process is making hard decisions on how to move forward with a responsible deficit and debt reduction package."
"No one has to tell me there is a problem. I am from Illinois."
"Its pension system is less than 50 percent underfunded."
"In fiscal year 2012, 44 States are projected to have a budget deficit of at least 5 percent."
"I sure don't need to be convinced that this is a serious problem. I come from Illinois, which seems to compete with California..."
"What I'm trying to get both sides to do is to work with the same numbers."
"Illinois has gone through decades of bad financial decisionmaking under both Democrats and Republicans."
"Introducing a bankruptcy statute would force bondholders to all States to question the legal regime."
"So much of local government strikes so close to home. It is where the wheels hit the streets."
"All local governments need to reinvent themselves, streamline and consolidate, not because they don't matter, but because they matter very, very much."