By WJBC Staff
SPRINGFIELD – For the second year in a row, it appears the Illinois General Assembly will not pass a balanced budget.
Democratic leaders said they don’t plan to take up the GOP-supported stopgap measure before the end of session Tuesday. Rauner said they’re creating an artificial crisis to push a tax increase through after the November election. “They’ve been holding up operations funding to put pressure on our administration. They want pressure in our corrections system. They want pressure on our health care system. They want pressure on our university system,” Rauner said.
Gov. Bruce Rauner says the General Assembly gets a failing grade.
“We end the spring session of the General Assembly in stunning failure, stunning failure by the supermajority Democrats that control our legislature,” Rauner said.
Republican leader Sen. Christine Radogno said the GOP proposed a stopgap measure that’s fully funded and doesn’t rely on tax increases. “If there’s a sincere bone in the bodies of any rank-and-file Democrats, they will pressure their leaders to get this done and get this done tonight,” Radogno said.
Speaker Michael Madigan has opposed reforms proposed by Rauner, saying they will diminish the working class. Rauner said Madigan has been at the helm of the legislature during the downfall of the middle class. “The reality is family incomes on average have declined in the last 17 years. We are going in the wrong direction,” Rauner said.
The legislature has until midnight to pass spending bills with a simple majority. Rauner was not committal on calling lawmakers back for a special session.
