(Springfield) In Springfield, the new Republican Governor Bruce Rauner has proposed a doomsday budget to a joint session of the Illinois General Assembly on his 58th birthday.
No new taxes but lots of cuts and lower pensions going forward in what Governor Rauner calls a budget Illinois can afford, “What we propose today is a turnaround budget. It improves public safety, provides care for our most vulnerable residents, boosts funding for education, and restructures the core costs of state government that are holding us back.”
Rauner proposes to spare early childhood education, prisons and the courts from cuts, but he wants to cut medicaid, state aid to local governments like City Hall Chicago and transportation. Schools would actually get an increase, $300 million more.
Critics say the state needs more revenue, but Rauner says reform first, revenue later.
Bill Cameron, 89 WLS News
