Illinois lawmakers will return to Springfield Sunday to hash out a potential budget plan with the deadline to make a deal coming at the end of the month.
The General Assembly will also be in session on Memorial Day. The deadline for the legislature to pass a budget with a simple majority is Tuesday.
House Democrats, led by Speaker Mike Madigan, pushed through an out-of-balance budget plan Wednesday. The bill will now be sent to the Illinois Senate. Gov. Bruce Rauner has made it clear that he plans to veto the measure.
Meanwhile Rauner continued to push for a bipartisan, balanced budget.
"I ask the rank and file members, the Democrats and Republicans in the legislature, do the right thing: stand up for your people in your district and your people in the entire state of Illinois,” Rauner said during a press conference. “Get a balanced budget, a truly balanced budget and get reforms to grow our economy and protect property taxpayers from the brutal burden on them.”
Madigan also said he was open to budget negotiations.
“We’re prepared to negotiate with the governor, find the revenue to pay for the spending plan,” Madigan said during a Friday press conference. “My first choice is raise taxes on the wealthy.”
The state’s budget impasse dates back to July of last year and has largely hinged on a battle between Rauner and the Democrat-controlled legislature over the governor’s pro-business, union-weakening Turnaround Agenda.
The stalemate has adversely affected state funding for health and social service groups, as well as the state’s public colleges and universities.
