By
SARA BURNETT
The Associated Press
CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner on Monday signed a full-year state budget for the first time since he took office, forgoing the pro-business changes and tax cuts he demanded throughout a years-long budget impasse for an election-year plan he said “moves the state forward.”
The Republican, who’s seeking his second term this fall, was joined by legislators from both parties at a bill signing ceremony where they lauded the $38.5 billion spending plan as balanced and bipartisan.
Rauner acknowledged he was not able to persuade the Democratic-controlled Legislature to repeal the tax increase he’s railed against since legislators passed it last year. But he said the budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 includes other items he wanted, such as a pension buyout plan lawmakers say could save Illinois more than $400 million.
“This is a bipartisan compromise … None of us got everything we were looking for,” Rauner said. “Today is a very good step forward.”
A spokeswoman for Democratic gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker said the governor’s approval “won’t change the massive amounts of damage” Rauner did with the budget stalemate, while the Democratic Governors Association said his signature was “three years too late.”
Rauner deadlocked with majority Democrats after taking office in 2015 over his so-called “turnaround agenda,” which included reducing regulations on business and weakening labor unions. That prompted a more than two-year state budget impasse and massive cuts to social services, higher education and other areas. The state’s already dismal credit rating dropped further, and debt piled up by the billions.
“Rauner’s decision to wait for an election year before finally signing a budget is just one more insult to the people of this state,” said DGA spokesman Sam Salustro. “Bruce Rauner forced Illinois to endure three years of budget crises and voters want to know, what was the point?”
Rauner is considered one of the most vulnerable GOP governors seeking re-election this fall. The contest between the wealthy former private equity investor and Pritzker, an entrepreneur and heir to the Hyatt hotels fortune, already has broken spending records for an Illinois governor’s race.
Pritzker on Saturday reported giving his campaign an additional $25 million, bringing his total contributions to more than $100 million. Rauner has topped $75 million.
Sen. Bill Brady, the Republican leader in the Senate, said Monday that Rauner realized months ago that “Illinois needed a win.” He said Rauner instructed GOP lawmakers to come up with a balanced budget that didn’t rely on additional tax increases.
Rauner said the state is benefiting from higher-than-expected income tax revenue, which he attributed to the Republican tax plan passed by Congress. He didn’t mention the billions in additional revenue from the state income tax increase Democrats and some Republicans passed over his veto last year as part of a deal to end the budget stalemate.
The new budget includes several items lawmakers will be able to tout on the campaign trail.
They include an expanded tuition grant program aimed at keeping Illinois high school graduates from leaving the state for college, an increase in funding for K-12 education and money for improvements at the Quincy Veterans’ Home, where 13 residents have died from Legionnaires’ disease.
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Follow Sara Burnett at https://twitter.com/sara_burnett
SARA BURNETT
Above is from: https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation-politics/rauner-signs-1st-full-year-state-budget-as-illinois-governor/
Dems respond to Rauner signing budget
Monday, Jun 4, 2018
* Before Gov. Rauner signed the budget this morning…
Three Years Later, Rauner Sidelined to Get the Job Done
Chicago, IL – As Bruce Rauner sits down to sign the first budget of his governorship, let’s take a look back at the crisis-drive agenda, stubborn demands, and failed leadership that brought us to this point:
2015: A CRISIS-DRIVEN AGENDA
Rauner makes his motives abundantly clear with the now infamous, “Crisis creates opportunity. Crisis creates leverage to change … and we’ve got to use that leverage of the crisis to force structural change.” He proceeds to veto a budget passed by the General Assembly while presenting no realistic alternative.
2016: CHANGING DEMANDS, DELAYED NEGOTIATIONS
After waiting six months into the budget crisis to meet with Democrats in 2015, Rauner waits four months into 2016 to sit down with legislative leaders. The failed governor brings to the table an ever-growing and ever-changing list of demands with columnists saying, “Rauner has made one politically unrealistic demand after another” and “Gov. Bruce Rauner is holding up critical state budget negotiations over his desire for term limits? Unbelievably, yes.”
2017: THE BIPARTISAN OVERRIDE
Bruce Rauner drives the state into a 736-day budget crisis, decimating the state economy, forcing social services to cut programs or close their doors, and jeopardizing public education across the state. After Rauner derails one budget and vetoes another, bipartisan legislators come together to override the failed governor’s veto and finally bringing Rauner’s crisis to an end.
2018: RAUNER SIDELINED
Having learned their lesson, leaders in the General Assembly sidelined Bruce Rauner from the budget process, ignoring the unbalanced budget he presented. The Chicago Tribune writes, “Rauner’s top priorities sidelined in final budget talks of his first term.” With the General Assembly getting the job done as Bruce Rauner faces re-election this year, the failed governor will sign a budget for his first time in office.
“Bruce Rauner finally agreeing to sign his name on a budget crafted by the General Assembly, three years into his time in office, won’t change the massive amounts of damage this failed governor has done to this state,” said Pritzker campaign communications director Galia Slayen. “It shouldn’t take legislative leaders sidelining the governor and the threat of re-election to get a budget done. It’s abundantly clear Illinois can’t afford another four years of Bruce Rauner.”
* During today’s presser…
* After he signed the budget…
After Three Years of Rauner Budget Chaos, What Changed?
Illinois Working Together Campaign Director Jake Lewis released the following statement in response to Gov. Bruce Rauner’s approval of the state budget:
“For three years, Gov. Bruce Rauner has refused to sign a state budget unless it included his own personal agenda. The governor spent much of that time holding the budget hostage while the students, seniors, and economy of the Illinois suffered catastrophic damage.
“Now it seems like the governor has had a radical change of heart, signing the Fiscal Year 2019 budget that includes none of his personal agenda and none of his own major budget proposals. So the question must be asked: what changed? And why did the students, seniors, and economy have to suffer for years before Rauner’s sudden shift?
“Bruce Rauner put the people of Illinois through crisis after crisis in pursuit of his own personal agenda. Today we find out that all of that chaos, all of the devastation was for nothing. So, governor, what changed? The people of Illinois deserve answers.”
* DGA…
What Was the Point of Rauner’s Three Year Budget Crisis?
The Democratic Governors Association releases the following statement through spokesperson Sam Salustro regarding news that Governor Bruce Rauner signed the first budget of his term after forcing the state to endure three years of crises:
“Bruce Rauner’s budget signature is three years too late. Thanks to Rauner’s failed leadership, Illinois’ debt soared, credit rating dropped, and services were slashed while jobs and people continued to leave the state. Rauner failed the people of Illinois and the state is worse off because of it.
“Rauner’s decision to wait for an election year before finally signing a budget is just one more insult to the people of this state.
*
* Pritzker campaign…
A Moment Three and a Half Years in the Making
Chicago, IL – It’s a moment three and a half years in the making: Bruce Rauner finally learned how to pick up a pen and sign his name.
Bruce Rauner forced Illinois to endure three years of budget crises and voters want to know, what was the point?”
Above is from: https://capitolfax.com/2018/06/04/dems-respond-to-rauner-signing-budget/
