Just how Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner plans to deal with Illinois' budget and its deficit largely remains a mystery. Rauner is set to finally unveil his ideas Wednesday, when he gives his budget address. However, the legislature's leaders got a preview the day before.
House Speaker Michael Madigan walked out the large, glass doors of the governor's antechamber, with this to say about his meeting with Rauner:
"The governor simply said that he's got some tough medicine to deliver."
It's expected that tough medicine will come in the form of hefty cuts, perhaps for everything from Medicaid to higher education.
That's because Illinois' income tax rate dropped at the start of the new year, and Madigan says that Rauner doesn't plan to propose any tax increases.
Madigan, who leads a supermajority of Democrats, says that like Rauner, he too wants to eliminate Illinois' deficits. But Madigan says he doesn't believe the state can cut its way out of its financial problems.
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