Rauner, making the final stop of a five-city downstate tour Wednesday to push for GOP school funding and stopgap state budget proposals, called on an audience of educators and government officials to apply pressure to local Democrats in the Legislature to defy their leaders moving forward.
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Lobbyists, lawmakers and tourists navigate the stairway to the “brass rail” outside the Senate and House chambers at the state Capitol on Tuesday as lawmakers press ahead in the last day of the spring legislative session.
The Illinois General Assembly failed to pass a budget agreement by the scheduled end of the regular legislative session Tuesday.
“If they were honest about the working groups and doing reform – we’ve been at this for a year – if they were honest, we’d be done”, Rauner said.
Sen. Dale Righter, a Mattoon (meh-TOON’) Republican, says Democrats need to find the money for the projects they want to fund.
Democrats want a mix of cuts and tax hikes as part of a long term budget solution while Rauner won’t consider tax hikes unless Democrats relax their opposition to his governance and policy reforms.
This plan would go through the end of the year, giving lawmakers the chance to come up with a better compromise in January. That’s led to layoffs, closures and a lot of uncertainty.
IL has gone through its most recent fiscal year without a complete budget.
Q: Why are schools at risk? .
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner said the House bill was $7 billion out of balance and he was going to veto it.
But this time, Democrats put everything in one bill.
Barickman said the budget proposals were thinly veiled disguise to bail out Chicago Public Schools.
“His optimism comes from legislators saying that schools need to open on time”, said Springfield reporter Amanda Vinicky.
“I don’t think that’s enough, so I’m going to negotiate with the speaker and ask that we meet far more regularly than that”. That’s particularly true in poorer districts. It allows spending occurring under court order or consent decrees, such as Medicaid, to continue at current rates. “I will not sign one”, Rauner said on Tuesday.
Several Republicans looking to unseat Democratic incumbents also held news conferences Wednesday to criticize lawmakers for the lack of progress on a budget.
Earlier in the day, Madigan said he had no intention of passing Rauner’s deal. The legislation sets the 2016 payment at $619 million. There could also be real problems at the Illinois Department of Corrections, too.
Rauner’s move to try to force blame on Democrats for not passing a stopgap proposal to fund social services is a political move that may well end up falling flat with anyone who has a decent memory of the past year. A three-fifths majority instead of a simple majority, which could make compromise between both parties even harder to come by.
A plan criminalizing gun trafficking got unanimous support from lawmakers.
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Q: Why was Tuesday so important? Republicans called for a vote on the stopgap measures on Tuesday night. After that 5 p.m. deadline, lawmakers will know for certain whether they’ll face a challenge this fall.
