Governor Bruce Rauner is continuing his public campaign for pro-business, union-weakening measures before compromising on a state budget. Illinois has gone four-and-a-half months operating without a budget, but still spending at 90% of last year's levels, despite a steep drop-off in revenues.
Rauner's office has found millions of dollars in savings by eliminating thousands of people from childcare and elderly services. But the Republican says he doesn't take pleasure in changing eligibility rules to save money.
"There are many things that we should be funding that we can't because we don't have a budget, we don't have the money. My primary focus: push hard, let's get a budget as soon as possible. I'd like to get it today. The sooner the better. People are hurting, we're not funding what we should because we don't have a budget so we're just going to keep pushing hard."
Rauner blames the Democratically controlled legislature for refusing to agree to some of Rauner's ideas, while the Democrats say Rauner's starting point is too extreme to accept.
Earlier this week, the state's comptroller said Illinois will have to skip its $560-million-dollar pension payment for the month of November in order to free up the cash for other non-negotiable spending.
