By John Dempsey, WLS-AM News
(CHICAGO) As Illinois lawmakers return to Springfield this week to try and solve the budget crisis, the Democratic Senate President was on WLS Monday morning accusing Republican Governor Bruce Rauner of sabotaging the budget process.
Senate President John Cullerton told “The Big John and Ramblin Ray
Show” that Rauner urged Republican lawmakers not to vote for the Senate budget compromise that Cullerton reached with his Republican counterpart, Senator Christine Radogno, even though Cullerton claims the compromise contained nearly everything Rauner had asked for
Cullerton also says while Rauner says he wants to work with Democrats, he is airing millions of dollars in campaign commercials attacking them.
“We’re trying to say, ‘Governor, stop the commercials, let’s govern for a little bit. You got plenty of time for campaigning.’ The last time we had a meeting with the leaders was back in December. It was at that point when he said ‘no more meetings, we can’t get a budget.’ Senator Radogno approached me and said ‘Let the Senate work on this in a bi-partisan fashion.’ Which we did.
They call it the Grand Bargain. We introduced 11 or 12 bills and we started voting on them. And guess who pulled them off? The guy with the 70 million pulled the Republicans off and said ‘This isn’t good enough for me.’ So we just said, ‘We gotta keep on working on this.’ We actually passed a budget and the revenue. And the budget that we passed, get this, is exactly the same amount of money that the Governor introduced himself as his budget.”
Illinois already has $15 billion in overdue bills and the lowest credit rating of any state, and some ratings agencies have warned they will downgrade the rating to “junk” if there’s no budget before the next fiscal year begins July 1.
Last week Rauner announced he was calling lawmakers back to Springfield for a special session, after the Legislature adjourned May 31 without approving a state spending plan – the third straight year lawmakers have been unable to agree on a budget. Legislators are due at the Capitol on Wednesday, and Rauner said the session will continue through June 30 or until the two sides have a deal.
Lawmakers from both parties have acknowledged Illinois needs to raise taxes to make up for revenue lost when a previous tax hike expired, leaving the state on pace to take in $6 billion less than it is spending this year – even without a budget.
Rauner, a former businessman who is seeking a second term in 2018, wants Democrats to approve changes he says are needed to improve Illinois’ long-term financial health before he’ll support a tax increase. Among them are term limits for lawmakers, a four-year property tax freeze and new workers’ compensation laws that would reduce costs for employers.
Democrats say they’re willing to approve some items on Rauner’s list, but that what he’s demanding keeps changing or goes too far and would hurt working families. Cullerton and his Senate Democrats approved a $37 billion budget with $3 billion in cuts and an income tax increase in May. The House has not taken up that plan.
@ 2017 WLS-AM News (The Associated Press contributed to this story.)
