State Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) thought it will be hard to work with Democrats on Illinois' next budget. (WJBC file photo)

By Adam Studzinski

BLOOMINGTON – It's not going to be easy for Republicans to work with Democrats on Illinois' next budget, according to State Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington).

Brady said the Democrats, who control both the state House of Representatives and Senate, have passed the last 12 budgets – only one of which he supported.

"They were out of balance. I didn't think they met the highest priorities," said Brady. "They're priorities are different, I think, than what the people of Illinois' priorities are."

Brady said it's going to be hard for the Democrats to turn away from the spending problems they've created. However, he did have faith in Gov. Bruce Rauner to "hold the line."

"And say listen, we can argue about what the priorities are, but we're not going to spend more money than we have," said Brady. "We're going to balance our budget and pay down our unpaid bills."

Right to work

Brady didn't believe a right-to-work zone means employers would have the right to fire for any reason. He said even if parts of Illinois become right-to-work zones, there are laws in place to ensure employment security, such as the Civil Rights Act.

"Most of us, I think, believe that people should be employed based on merit. If you prove your worth, your merit, no one is going to fire you regardless if you're union or non-union," Brady said.

Rauner has proposed to allow individual counties to vote whether they want to be right-to-work zones or not. Brady believed this could become reality, but he's still waiting to see what the full proposal looks like.

Adam Studzinski can be reached at [email protected].