By Cynthia Grau

Illinois legislators are a little more than halfway through a 10-day special session in an attempt to get a state budget, and Senator Jason Barickman said he is optimistic right now, though, there is one wild card.

The person Barickman sees standing in the way is House Speaker Michael Madigan who holds the cards right now as to whether anything is decided or not.

“We need Mike Madigan to get engaged. We need him to do something that he historically has been unwilling to do, which is use his tremendous power and influence to help our state find a common ground in this divided government we have and take a meaningful step forward by producing a balanced budget and restoring faith that the people need to have that our government is working for them and not for special interests,” Barickman said.

This special session is scheduled to end Friday.