By Illinois News Network
SPRINGFIELD – With no spending plan in place and just hours before a budget deadline, state lawmakers are back in Springfield this week where they’ll be discussing what a government shutdown looks.
Wednesday marks the beginning of fiscal year 2016 and Gov. Bruce Rauner has vetoed the budget with the exception of the early childhood and K-12 education funding bill. The budget passed by majority Democrats was over $3 billion out of whack, something Rauner for weeks said he would not support.
Having pulled back on some of his key Turnaround Agenda measures, the governor says he’s still ready to work on substantive economic and political reforms before agreeing to increased revenue. Republicans say Democrats have been insincere in compromising with the governor’s agenda.
Without a spending plan in place, the House will hold whole committees both Tuesday and Wednesday where service providers, their customers and various state agency heads will testify about the effects of a limiting state government operations. The Senate will hold a Committee of the Whole on Tuesday about workers’ compensation.
