Dems Ask: Where's Gov. Rauner?
(CBS) -- With a possible financial doomsday just four days away, Illinois lawmakers are working to reach a budget deal in Springfield.
Gov. Bruce Rauner wasn't there.
CBS 2 Political Reporter Derrick Blakley explains why.
As state lawmakers worked in special session to achieve a budget breakthrough, the man who called the special session wasn't there.
Instead, on Monday, Republican Rauner presided over the groundbreaking for a bridge in the Quad Cities.
Democrats say those optics reflect a reality: Rauner's been absent from direct negotiations to break the budget deadlock.
"He, I believe, called for the special session, so I hope he returns to the state capital soon," U.S.Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., says.
Durbin revealed more fallout from the budget standoff. Even after Russians hacked Illinois' voter database, cyber protection of those files may end July 1. That's because the security firm protecting them hasn't been paid for two years.
"That means, frankly, our votes as citizens of Illinois are vulnerable to hacking because of the state budget crisis," Durbin says.
Meantime, first lady Diana Rauner told the City Club of Chicago that early childhood education is just one of the social services getting squeezed in the budget standoff.
Diana Rauner is president of the Ounce of Prevention Fund, which provides early childhood education throughout the country.
There has been some movement in the past week. The two sides are actually talking and not just name-calling. But time is short, and with this governor and this legislature the only track record is failure.
