Illinois Democrats advanced more of their budget Wednesday, despite the deficit it would create. At the same time they squashed some of the Republican governor's requests.
The budget Democrats are pushing through would create at least a $3-billion-dollar deficit. Senator Matt Murphy, a Republican from Palatine, says it's simple math.
"You propose to spend $36.3 billion dollars, and you will have approximately $33 billion dollars in revenue. How does it possibly square with the plain language in the Constitution?"
Murphy's referring to a requirement that spending match revenue. It's not like Illinois hasn't done it before, budget imbalances for years have added up into billions of dollars in bill backlogs and late payments.
But Democrats say the budget could be cut by Governor Bruce Rauner, or get bolstered by a tax increase down the road.
The Senate also voted down budget proposals that would have enacted Rauner’s proposed cuts.
