The Illinois House on Tuesday voted to patch a 1.6-billion-dollar hole in the current state budget.
The budget was supposed to get Illinois through June, but already the state's running out of money for things like court reporters and prison guards. That’s in part because Democrats passed an incomplete budget last year — not wanting to raise taxes or cut spending.
Now Democrats and Republicans — including Gov. Bruce Rauner — say they’ve found a solution. But it continues to mostly avoid that difficult choice.
There’s an across-the-board spending cut of 2¼ percent. But House Democratic Majority Leader says that’s a relatively small share of the overall fix.
“More than 80 percent comes from using the monies in special funds that are not necessary at this moment to be used for their original purpose," Currie says.
Although the deal took weeks to negotiate, it now appears to be on a fast track, passing through committee and the full House in a matter of hours.
The measure still has to be approved by the Senate later this week.
