Rauner Keeps Finger Pointed At Madigan For Budget Impasse
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner doubled down Tuesday on his efforts to blame Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan for the state's budget stalemate, accusing him of stalling any agreement on a spending plan.
Rauner criticized Madigan and Democratic lawmakers for accepting pay raises he says amount to $1,300 apiece, but refusing to negotiate on the budget. The governor said the speaker intentionally put social service programs at risk of running out of funding to create enough political pressure to pass a tax hike to balance the budget.
"The reality is the speaker wanted pressure to build, wanted childcare services to be cut and impacted, and pressure folks to feel that before he would take action, as sort of a cover for taking action," Rauner said.
Rauner said Madigan and Democratic lawmakers are taking care of themselves during the stalemate, but allowing things to get worse for state workers, and programs to help the needy.
"The members of the General Assembly get paid even without a budget. They put themselves in a continuing appropriation. No one else in government has that. In fact, the speaker and the attorney general are fighting me on paying state employees," he said.
But is it helpful to paint the speaker as an obstructionist amid a budget stalemate?
"I've got to focus where the problem is. I mean, the reality is, if it were just our office working with [Senate] President [John] Cullerton, or Mayor [Rahm] Emanuel, or certain members of the General Assembly in both political parties, we would have this done," Rauner said.
For his own part, Rauner has tried to use the budget process to leverage a deal with Democrats to approve his so-called "Turnaound Agenda" of pro-business, anti-union changes to state law.
Madigan has called the governor's tactics "extreme," and said Rauner's agenda is full of non-budgetary issues that should not be tied to a deal for a spending plan. He also has said Democrats are strongly opposed to most of Rauner's agenda, because the proposals would hurt the working class.
Among other issues, Rauner's agenda includes proposals such as term limits, changes to the way the state redraws voting districts, limits on union bargaining power, overhauling workers' compensation laws, reducing lawsuit damages, and freezing property taxes.
The governor has defended his efforts to tie his agenda to the budget process.
"The budget, in the end, gets driven by the condition of the state. What we've got to get to is the core issues that drive the budgeting process. We need folks in the General Assembly, and in the government, who are there for the right reasons, and who are reflective of their constituency, not the Chicago machine," he said.
Asked if he and or other Republicans would offer their own plan to balance the budget, the governor said lawmakers won't want to deal with his ideas if they only pass a budget.
"The folks in the General Assembly won't want to deal with those things if we just go right and talk only about the budget itself. Those issues can drive the process for the budget," he said.
The Illinois House was in session on Tuesday, its only scheduled day this week, but no vote on the budget or Rauner's agenda was scheduled.