State Senator Dan Rutherford says Illinois' neediest citizens are caught in a Democrat power struggle as Fiscal Year 2010 began on July 1. Rutherford says politics have hindered the state in recent years. Rutherford says Senate Republicans offered their own alternative on Tuesday, to keep governmental operations functioning until a permanent budget is passed. Lawmakers aren't scheduled to return to the Capitol for further discussions until July 14, roughly the same time that the first government paychecks would be interrupted by the budget impasse.