SPRINGFIELD — Illinois Senate President John Cullerton is calling on Gov. Bruce Rauner’s court to do something to end the state’s budget impasse.
In a Wednesday morning news conference, Cullerton said Rauner needs to send lawmakers a spending plan or risk another downgrading of Illinois’’ bond rating, which is already among the lowest in the country.
Illinois’ Constitution calls for the Governor to present a balanced budget to the General Assembly and for lawmakers to then make the appropriations for the expenditures in that budget. However, the budget Rauner presented to legislators in February was roughly $3 billion out of balance.
Lawmakers then sent Rauner a budget with a roughly $3-4 billion shortfall, saying the Governor needed to line item cuts to the proposal.
But Rauner has said he will only approve a budget if it includes his pro-business proposals, and Cullerton echoed House Speaker Michael Madigan’s contention that Rauner’s proposals should not be tied to the budget.
Illinois budget expired June 30.
Cullerton says 60 percent of any new budget is already earmarked for mandatory expenditures. He says it’s up to Rauner to decide how he thinks the rest of the money should be spent.
He says he’s willing to talk with Rauner about his proposed property tax freeze, but he says there is not enough support from either party for Rauner’s plan to weaken union bargaining powers.
Cullerton called some of Rauner’s bills “pretty radical.”
When asked by a reporter to respond to the governor’s comments yesterday that his office is working with Cullerton and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on the budget, Cullerton dismissed the comments, saying Rauner is not negotiating with him on the budget, and that he doesn’t know what the Governor was talking about.
When another reporter raised the possibility of a new meeting between the governor and the four legislative leaders, Cullerton said that he would attend any meeting called by the governor, but that he found meetings with Rauner unproductive.
Cullterton responded that if it’s like other meetings, the guy reads off a sheet of paper and nothing changes.