Ugly.

That’s an apt way to sum up the second week of the fall veto session in the Illinois Capitol. The political bickering simmered Tuesday and Wednesday before boiling over into a hot mess Thursday, leaving a grimy residue of anger, potentially even more distrust between the political parties and, most importantly, the realized fear that Jan. 1 will most likely come with no spending plan in place for the last six months of the fiscal year.

Lawmakers hightailed it out of town Thursday night and aren’t due back until Jan. 9, so barring a Christmas miracle of an agreed-upon budget and the often insurmountable challenge of getting lawmakers back to Springfield during the holidays to approve it, social service agencies, universities and nonprofits already scrounging to survive could once again bear the brunt of the misery that comes when legislators and the governor abdicate their most important duty.

The ongoing, almost daily meetings between Gov. Bruce Rauner and four legislative leaders produced a certain amount of acrimony every time they emerged, as both political parties accused the other of impeding progress. But it erupted Thursday when Rauner vetoed legislation that would provide $215 million to Chicago Public Schools for pension payments.

Rauner contends there was an agreement to enact pension reform statewide by Jan. 1 as a condition of CPS getting the money; he vetoed it after Senate President John Cullerton told reporters "We haven’t talked about putting those two things together at this point in time.” Cullerton later told the Capitol Fax blog that yes, the understanding was CPS would get the money if pension reform was agreed upon, but he always reserved the right to override a veto if that didn’t happen.

The move appeared to sour the one relationship top Republicans had with a Democrat who seemed committed to accomplishing anything of importance, as House Speaker Michael Madigan remains unmovable on pretty much everything.

They can’t even agree on what they are disagreeing about: Rauner, who stressed the need for term limits and a permanent property tax freeze, insists Madigan wants another stopgap budget approved without such reforms. Madigan denies he is seeking another stopgap budget, and continued his broken-record tune that the focus should be the budget and nothing else. Rauner and Madigan also traded barbs on which one supposedly wants a tax increase considered during January’s lame-duck session.

Their bickering continued into the one piece of legislation that was approved with something akin to bipartisan support, the Future Energy Jobs Bill that will provide $235 million a year to Exelon so it can keep two of its nuclear power plants open for another 13 years. The measure, which includes price hikes for ratepayers, also provides money for energy-efficient infrastructure and programs and funding assistance for low-income families.

It had Rauner’s support on Wednesday, but Thursday dawned and he accused Madigan of inserting a “poison pill” regarding language about paying prevailing wages. Frantic negotiations continued through Thursday before a bill was cobbled together that could muster enough votes for passage.

A few lawmakers decried the legislation, noting they were willing to help a private company with profits of more than $2 billion last year, but could not provide stability for the state’s residents in the form of a budget. Their passionate pleas could not stop both chambers from approving the measure.

Yet many business groups, including the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and the Illinois Manufacturers' Association, had strongly opposed the Exelon bill, arguing that it would raise their energy costs. And as many have noted, relatively low power rates have been one of the few bright spots in Illinois' business climate.

So that's another dose of uncertainty for the state's business community on top of the uncertainty regarding the lack of a budget. Illinois Treasurer Mike Frerichs nailed it at a forum last week when he said that business owners need to know what they'll be dealing with in the next few years.

The end result of the fall veto session is a more destabilized state of affairs than we had a week ago, with the battle drawn strictly along party lines and both sides signaling they are digging in for the long haul.

The actions of the past week are crystallizing the suspicion that Rauner and Madigan are willing to let the state burn to the ground if the winner gets his way. Banished to the wayside is the realization that while one of them may emerge with a victor’s crown, the loser will not be the other man.

It will be the rest of Illinois.