A legislative effort to give Chicago Public Schools more time to solve its financial crisis came up well short today, as the Illinois House failed to pass a bill that would have allowed the cash-strapped system to put off a huge pension payment until August.

The action came when a last-minute proposal pushed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel got just 53 votes—well short of the 71 needed for passage. Forty-six representatives voted no, and two abstained. It happened even though insiders said Gov. Bruce Rauner had agreed to sign the matter into law if it reached his desk.

Unless officials can revive the plan in the next few days, the bill's demise means that CPS will have to default on making a required $634 million contribution to its teachers' pension system or make the payment by draining its resources and risk missing payroll.

Either way, it's a first-class mess, though a motion to reconsider was filed immediately by Rep. Louis Lang, D-Skokie.

Earlier, it looked like this in our fair capital . . .

10:30 a.m. — The Springfield logjam may be breaking just a little today, and efforts to avoid a financial collapse at Chicago Public Schools could be the big beneficiary. But whether the action is a sign of larger things to come on the state's budget war is far from certain.

The big development is the emergence of an apparent deal—I say "apparent" because this one won't be done until it's done—to allow CPS to delay making a huge pension payment that would have drained its cash accounts and potentially endangered its ability to meet payroll.

The deal is in S.B. 437, which is coming up for a hearing today in a House committee where CPS Acting CEO Jesse Ruiz reportedly is scheduled to testify. The deal would put off payment of $634 million to CPS' teachers retirement fund to Aug. 10, as opposed to the currently mandated June 30 deadline.

During that reprieve, CPS is scheduled to receive second-half property tax payments and a big state aid check, so the delay would buy some time for a larger CPS survival package to be crafted.

House Speaker Michael Madigan's top lieutenant, House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, is sponsoring the measure.

I've confirmed that Senate President John Cullerton is for the plan, and multiple sources say Gov. Bruce Rauner has agreed to sign it, though the governor's press office won't say a peep. Madigan's office is being cagey on where he stands, but I can't imagine the speaker wants to shoulder the blame for CPS crashing. So, the prognosis is good. But nothing is final yet.

A Rauner sign-on would be rather interesting, given that the governor previously has seemed to be pushing to have CPS reorganize its affairs in bankruptcy.

But that may explain a second bit of action today. Madigan has agreed to call for a final vote a bill to partially privatize the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, which Rauner has been pushing for pretty hard.

If the DCEO measure and the CPS bill pass, every side will get something. That's the kind of stuff that bigger deals are made of.

Update, 11:50 a.m. — The CPS bill has cleared its first legislative hurdle.

After hearing testimony from Ruiz, the Executive Committee approved the bill 8-2 and sent it to the full House.

Update, 12:30 p.m. — Both the Chicago Teachers Union and Rauner's office are out with statements, and neither specifically dings the pending CPS bill. But both are downplaying any sign of bigger-picture progress.

Says the union, "We continue to be dismayed at the board's refusal to even look at the multitude of progressive revenue options available. A mini pension holiday is like putting a tiny piece of gauze on a hemorrhaging wound. If there is any light at the end of this tunnel, we want to make sure it's not an oncoming train."

Says Rauner's office. "This is another day of games and provocation from the speaker . . . Instead of holding sham hearings and sham votes, House Democrats should be more like their Senate counterparts in working with the governor, the mayor and Republican leaders to achieve a comprehensive agreement that benefits the city and the state."

That's a reference not to the CPS bill but the DCEO privatization measure, and the governor clearly does not like how the latter has been changed.