After months of dismal financial news, Senate Republicans were prepared for a challenging, austere budget plan when Governor Quinn unveiled his proposed Fiscal Year 2013 budget Feb. 22, 2012.

(Want to know more about Governor Pat Quinn's proposed budget for next fiscal year? This special section is designed to help you dig deeper.)

It was the Governor's fourth budget, and like the previous two, it would spend more money than the current year.

The Governor proposed spending about $550 million more than the adopted budget for FY12 and $50 million over the latest spending projections.

Although the Governor's office had claimed in pre-budget briefings that the plan would roll back spending to Fiscal Year 2008 levels, it actually asks to spend about $3.4 billion more than in 2008.

Republicans had hoped to hear details of how the Governor plans to reduce Medicaid spending and reform public pensions, the two biggest challenges facing the state budget. Although Governor Quinn laid out a goal of $2.7 billion cut from Medicaid, he offered no specifics on what cuts he would endorse.Similarly, he failed to lay out clear parameters on pension reform, other than suggesting that costs be shifted to local property taxpayers.