Illinois House Dems Pass One-Month Budget Over Governor's Veto Threat
(CBS) – Gov. Bruce Rauner has pledged to veto it, but members of the Democratically controlled Illinois House passed a one-month state budget, anyway.
The 71-19 party-line vote followed about two hours of debate in which Republicans, like Representative Mike Tryon of Crystal Lake, decried the temporary budget as another irresponsible step that has led to the state's current fiscal mess.
House Speaker Mike Madigan, D-Chicago, spoke to reporters after the vote, appearing not to believe the governor's veto threat.
The Democrat says Rauner has made a lot of U-turns, including signing the appropriation for elementary and secondary education after he said he wouldn't.
Rauner Spokesman Lance Trover said, "Voting to spend money the state doesn't have is the cause of Illinois' financial crisis. Today, Speaker Madigan and the legislators he controls irresponsibly voted for yet another unbalanced budget plan."
Earlier this week, Rauner challenged Democrats, with their supermajority, to approve a tax hike, rather than continue to pass unbalanced budgets.