By Haley Kosik/WJEZ News
Governor Bruce Rauner spent the last day of the fiscal year visiting state agencies in Springfield and Chicago, trying to reassure employees they’ll get paid.
Rauner told Illinois Emergency Management Agency employees in Springfield that they do valuable work.
Rauner said, “We in our administration are working for you. I want to make darn sure you guys are paid, you guys are paid on time, and you’re paid 100 percent of your salary, not some lesser amount.”
Rauner said Democrats see differently. He is referring to Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who says state workers can’t be paid without a budget from which to pay them.
Rauner said a partial shutdown is worth the pain if it means reform.
Illinois lawmakers are preparing to consider a “maintenance” budget of one month, now that the new fiscal year begins today.
State Representative Lou Lang said even if a one-month “maintenance” budget becomes reality, this is no time to celebrate.
“We still have a long way to go, but we’ve got people to represent and services to provide to the people in our state and we want to hear about business of making sure those services aren’t shut down,” said Lang
One Republican willing to walk away is State Representative Bill Mitchell. Mitchell said the right thing to do is to pass a balanced budget.
A stopgap budget proposal could come up.
