SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – A budget plan being pushed by House Speaker Michael Madigan would fail to cover government expenses for the full year, forcing officials to cut jobs and slow down payment of medical bills.

Still, the Chicago Democrat says the plan is the best that will emerge from the House. He calls it “the high-water mark.”

Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Senate President Emil Jones criticize the proposal as a threat to important services, a complaint shared by the Illinois Hospital Association and a major union.

“Who’s going to take care of the veterans? Are they going to make the prisons more dangerous? That’s what’s at stake here,” Henry Bayer, Illinois director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said Thursday.

The governor and legislative leaders are deadlocked over how to put together a state budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

Blagojevich and Jones, both Chicago Democrats, want a major gambling expansion and new business taxes. Their $5 billion plan would pump new money into schools and health care.

But Madigan and Republican leaders favor far less spending, basically making do with natural growth in state revenues to give schools a modest increase.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley again chastised his fellow Democrats for squabbling among themselves rather than reaching a compromise. He compared the situation to the War of the Roses, or to boxers who stay in their corners rather than fight.

With no budget agreement on the horizon, lawmakers adjourned until next week, ignoring the governor’s call for them to stay in session at least five days a week.

“Too bad,” said Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson, D-Crete. She said it makes no sense to keep lawmakers in Springfield while top officials bicker when they have work to do in their districts.

The House will return Tuesday, but the Senate won’t come back until Thursday _ a surprise, given that the Senate president recently said lawmakers should be in session every day.

Madigan’s version of the budget is the only one to win approval from either legislative chamber. The House narrowly approved it last week but has never sent the legislation to the Senate for consideration there.

By some estimates, the proposal is $1.2 billion in the red.

It does not include the roughly $550 million needed for the state’s annual contribution to government pensions. It also leaves out money for higher costs in the Medicaid program, about $570 million.

The state also has to come up with about $125 million for higher salaries required by a union contract.

Even Madigan acknowledges his proposal is not balanced. “The budget would run a deficit in the next year,” he said.

Madigan’s top budget negotiator, Rep. Gary Hannig of Litchfield, said if his budget became law, Blagojevich would have to find ways of coping with the shortfall. Possibilities include leaving jobs vacant when employees quit or slowing down payments to hospitals and nursing homes that provide medical care to the poor.

“It’s the kind of thing he’s been able to do in the past,” Hannig said.

Lawmakers also could add money to the budget later in the year, if Blagojevich could demonstrate a need, he said.

Howard Peters, a vice president for the Illinois Hospital Association, called the idea of delaying payments “a major problem and a major disappointment.” He said it would amount to forcing providers to give the state a loan.

Blagojevich’s office said the cuts would be even more painful than that.

His examples include ending in-home services for 680 senior citizens and reducing services for 45,000 seniors. State veteran’s homes would have to turn away 173 people. Community health services would lose $25 million.

Jones criticized the House proposal but said he and his members would consider it if the House ever sends the legislation to the Senate. He said they would discuss it as a possible “stopgap” measure until a permanent budget could be passed.

“As a Democrat, I care about education. I care about health care for all,” Jones said. “I care about those issues that impact working families, and this budget really doesn’t reflect that.”