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General Assembly Leaders Discuss Budget Plans, But Unsure About Progress

"Money" By Flickr User Pictures of Money / (CC BY 2.0)

The Illinois government will run out of spending authority in just over a month. 

Leading lawmakers discussed the problem Monday, but even those in the meeting aren’t sure whether progress is being made.

Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner wants his corporate agenda passed before he'll talk about balancing the budget through taxes and spending cuts.  But Democrats have, until now, stressed the need for a budget to come first.  

Senate President John Cullerton says that, as a next step, he'll offer counter-proposals on worker's compensation and state pensions. But House Speaker Michael Madigan is still only talking about the budget.

 

"If we continue to use the framework which has been used on seven successful budgets," he said, "why, we'll be able to finish our work and do a budget."

 

Those seven times refer to partial, patchwork and stop-gap funding plans.  They were all passed without Rauner's business agenda as a precondition.

 

Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno was confused by the differing stances. 

 

"You could see from the way the Democrat leaders came out that it's hard to know what's going on here," she said. "It's unclear who we're even negotiating with."

 

Illinois has been operating on a partial spending plan, but that expires at the end of the year.

 

Brian Mackey formerly reported on state government and politics for NPR Illinois and a dozen other public radio stations across the state. Before that, he was A&E editor at The State Journal-Register and Statehouse bureau chief for the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin.