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Democratic State Representative Paul Froehlich (56th District) reports that at today’s Mass Transit Committee meeting the majority (a 16-5 margin) “held our noses” and accepted Governor Rod Blagojevich’s amendatory veto. The amendatory veto, without prior discussion with legislators, requires free rides for senior citizens on mass transit as the price for passage of the long-awaited, critical funding bill.

Representative Froehlich described the situation in the Mass Transit Committee this way,

“Since few Republicans support the bill, we [Democrats] don’t have the option of overriding the Governor’s amendatory veto. We have to either reject it - and kill the bill - or accept it and the bill becomes law. Since the doomsday is Jan. 20, those of us who want a healthy public transit system aren’t inclined to kill the bill.”

House Mass Transit Committee Republican Spokesperson Sid Mathias, one of the few GOP members supporting the bill, wasn’t thrilled with the situation either, saying, “I’m angry, and even though I’m angry, I am still going to vote for this tomorrow.”

While the House is expected to vote on the bill tomorrow, the results are still uncertain. As Paul Froehlich said, “we’ll see if the slim majority that passed the bill holds together.”