By Eric Stock
BLOOMINGTON – Illinois lawmakers will be back in Springfield Wednesday after Gov. Bruce Rauner called them back for a special session.
State Representative Dan Brady told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin and Patti Penn he believes something will get accomplished before the budget year ends in 11 days, even if it’s only a stop-gap measure.
PODCAST: Listen to Scott and Patti’s interview with Brady on WJBC.
“We haven’t been called back to say ‘OK, there’s no plans out there, what are you doing down there,’ ” Brady said. “We’ve been called back with a special plan we have in place to say to our (Democratic) colleagues ‘OK help us, give some more ideas.”
Brady added the Republican budget proposal rolled out last week shows compromise.
“We have made significant changes, the governor has made significant concessions in what he would like to see done versus trying to get something done,” Brady said. “He’s the one who has called us back in and not the (House) Speaker.”
The state has been without a budget for nearly two full years with only stopgap and piecemeal measures getting the state by barely. If lawmakers don’t balance a budget by the end of this month for the next fiscal year, road construction will halt, Illinois’ Mega Millions could end and the state’s credit rating could be downgraded to junk.
Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].
Illinois Radio Network contributed to this report.
