The plans all go to Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner despite GOP lawmakers’ complaints about increased spending without a budget plan.
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The Senate education bill would appropriate almost $16 billion for public schools next year.
Rauner repeated his call that funding for elementary and high schools be put in a separate bill from other spending plans, the idea being to provide assurance that schools will open on time while the political games play out.
Emerging from a closed-door meeting with the governor, Democratic leaders said they’d dispatched Rauner’s proposal to a group of lawmakers who already have spent months negotiating a larger budget deal that has yet to materialize.
“As an option of last resort, the General Assembly should fulfill the Governor’s long-standing request to pass a standalone appropriations bill for PK-12 education and also pass a fiscally responsible appropriations bill that serves as a bridge to keep government functioning and protects the public’s health, welfare and safety”, Nuding wrote in the memo.
Last week, Rauner’s administration opposed a temporary fix when Democrats first raised the idea but relented because lawmakers are hours away from finishing the session.
Rauner proposed a last-minute, short-term budget to give the state some near-term stability. The first-term governor characterized the plan as kicking the can down the road, saying it’d cost taxpayers almost $19 billion more over time.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner is proposing a short-term budget fix for IL that funds public schools through next year and provides support for financially-strapped social service providers.
The expenses would be paid for through a combination of federal money, tapping into the state’s rainy-day fund and other specialized funds, and not repaying $450 million the state borrowed previous year, according to Capitol Fax.
Rauner wants business-friendly legislation he says will spur economic growth in exchange for signing off on a tax increase to address a $5 billion deficit.
Rauner and legislative leaders are meeting Tuesday morning. But Democrats say the governor’s own proposals will harm middle class families, unions and vulnerable residents.
IL lawmakers have one day left to end an 11-month budget stalemate and pass a spending plan for next year before their spring session ends and it becomes more hard.
Republicans do think the deal could happen by Tuesday night.
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Democrats remain deadlocked Tuesday with Gov. Bruce Rauner and his fellow Republicans on how to pass a budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1. Future budget deliberations will be complicated by the fact that a tougher, three-fifths voting majority to pass a bill kicks in on Wednesday. Rauner said he’ll veto it because it’s $7 billion out of balance. “The proposal came out of the House [of Representatives] with less than a veto-proof majority, and its fate is uncertain in the Senate chamber”, Dunn said.
