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Gov. Rauner Vetoes State Budget

Bruce Rauner
Brian Mackey
/
WUIS
Gov. Bruce Rauner

Illinois is without a spending plan, with less than a week until the new fiscal year begins. Democrats in the General Assembly approved one, but Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed nearly the whole thing Thursday.

Schools will be able to open their doors this fall; on Wednesday, Rauner authorized funding them. But otherwise, as it stands now, come next week, the state will be without legal authority to issue employees' paychecks, to send money to universities, to pay for the state police force, to pay for mostly everything else.

Rauner says he rejected the spending plan Democratic legislators approved late last month "in order to protect taxpayers from an unbalanced," "unconstitutional" budget.

He'd warned in May that this action could be coming: "I cannot sign a fake budget, a phony budget." Democrats admit their plan spends billions more than the state will collect in taxes, but they say the gap should be filled with a mix of cuts and new revenue.

Rauner, a Republican, says he'll only talk spending if lawmakers approve elements of his pro-business, anti-incumbent agenda.

Amanda Vinicky moved to Chicago Tonight on WTTW-TV PBS in 2017.
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