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Illinois House Lawmakers Approve $38.5 Billion Budget


State of Illinois flag
Illinois State Flag.( Source: Shutterstock)
Springfield, IL—(ENEWSPF)—June 1, 2018
By: Rosemary Piser

Illinois House lawmakers approved a $38.5 billion budget yesterday by a vote of 97-18. The bill now moves on to Governor Rauner who is expected to sign it. If this budget is enacted, it would become the first full-year budget Rauner has signed since taking office.

Gov. Rauner made the following comment on the passage of the bill:

“We started this year’s budget process with the common-sense goals of a full-year balanced budget and no new taxes. With this budget, we can come as close as any General Assembly and Governor in Illinois have in a very long time. It’s a step in the right direction, though it does not include much-needed debt paydown and reforms that would reduce taxes, grow our economy, create jobs and raise family incomes. The Fiscal Year 2019 budget is the result of bipartisan effort and compromise. We worked together to provide a budget to the people of Illinois that can be balanced, with hard work and continued bipartisan effort to deliver on the promises it makes.  I’ll be taking action quickly to enact the Fiscal Year 19 budget into law.”

House Speaker Michael J. Madigan issued the following statement after the bipartisan, balanced budget was passed:

“For the second time in as many years, House Democrats have worked alongside our Republican colleagues in the Legislature to pass a bipartisan, balanced budget. As House Democrats have said throughout the past four years, when we can work together in good faith we can accomplish great things.

“Our budget holds the line on taxes and spending, and creates a $15 million surplus that will be used to pay down old bills. We cut government bureaucracy like high-paid consultants and duplicative IT systems at state agencies to invest our finite resources in critical services, provide $350 million in new funding for public schools, and reverse the governor’s cuts to education programs, health care, child care and senior services.

“While there is more work to be done, this compromise budget shows yet again that when extreme demands are not preconditions to negotiation, Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature can work together to move Illinois forward.”

Sources: ABC News, Office of House Speaker Madigan, www.illinois.gov


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