Post by Logan on Jun 28, 2016 3:35:47 GMT -6
Rauner warns Democrats on tying stopgap budget to CPS 'bailout'
Gov. Bruce Rauner continued the political posturing ahead of state lawmakers' return to the Capitol on Wednesday, accusing Democrats of standing in the way of a stopgap budget deal by insisting on a financial "bailout" of struggling Chicago Public Schools.
Rauner previously has said he was open to providing aid to the cash-strapped district if Mayor Rahm Emanuel used his influence among Democrats in the legislature to help push through portions of the Republican governor's agenda. That didn't happen, and since then Rauner has said he's putting his wish list on hold until after the November election and is now focused on a bill to keep government operating through the end of the year and a related spending measure to ensure that schools open on time this fall.
While Rauner contended Monday that the sides are close to an agreement to keep core services operating, he said he feared that Democratic leaders would derail a potential deal by insisting on adding hundreds of millions of dollars in help for CPS. State government is poised to enter its second year without a complete budget Friday, which marks the start of the new fiscal year. Rauner vetoed the out-of-balance plan Democrats sent him last year, and Democrats failed to send him a spending proposal before leaving Springfield at the end of May because of divisions between House and Senate members.
"I think the good news is it looks like we pretty well have an agreement on the stopgap budget itself," Rauner said during a news conference in his Capitol office. "The differences are very, very minor. We are basically done with the stopgap budget part. And we should be done on the education funding bill. But (Senate) President (John) Cullerton in particular, along with (House) Speaker (Michael) Madigan, say no budget deal unless the funding formula changes and we get a lot more money for CPS."
Read more: www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-bruce-rauner-budget-impasse-met-0628-20160627-story.html
Gov. Bruce Rauner continued the political posturing ahead of state lawmakers' return to the Capitol on Wednesday, accusing Democrats of standing in the way of a stopgap budget deal by insisting on a financial "bailout" of struggling Chicago Public Schools.
Rauner previously has said he was open to providing aid to the cash-strapped district if Mayor Rahm Emanuel used his influence among Democrats in the legislature to help push through portions of the Republican governor's agenda. That didn't happen, and since then Rauner has said he's putting his wish list on hold until after the November election and is now focused on a bill to keep government operating through the end of the year and a related spending measure to ensure that schools open on time this fall.
While Rauner contended Monday that the sides are close to an agreement to keep core services operating, he said he feared that Democratic leaders would derail a potential deal by insisting on adding hundreds of millions of dollars in help for CPS. State government is poised to enter its second year without a complete budget Friday, which marks the start of the new fiscal year. Rauner vetoed the out-of-balance plan Democrats sent him last year, and Democrats failed to send him a spending proposal before leaving Springfield at the end of May because of divisions between House and Senate members.
"I think the good news is it looks like we pretty well have an agreement on the stopgap budget itself," Rauner said during a news conference in his Capitol office. "The differences are very, very minor. We are basically done with the stopgap budget part. And we should be done on the education funding bill. But (Senate) President (John) Cullerton in particular, along with (House) Speaker (Michael) Madigan, say no budget deal unless the funding formula changes and we get a lot more money for CPS."
Read more: www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-bruce-rauner-budget-impasse-met-0628-20160627-story.html