By Greg Halbleib

CHICAGO – Senate Minority Leader Bill Brady says he and fellow Republicans recognize that the new state budget is not perfect, but it is a sign of compromise between the two major parties.

Brady was present in Chicago this morning when Governor Bruce Rauner signed the spending plan. Brady said he’s glad to have a budget in place as the new fiscal year begins, although he and the GOP would have liked to cut into the overdue bill backlog much more than was approved.

“It was difficult enough for us to get the majority party, the Democratic party, to cut out about a billion dollars in what you would call ‘auto-pilot’ spending increases that would happen if we did nothing, not to mention back off about $500 million in increased spending,” Brady told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin.

Brady said the budget does not overspend revenue, but it’s not perfect.

“We would have like to have paid down the backlog of unpaid bills more. We would have liked to have invested more in the pension fund,” Brady said. “Although there is some significant pension reform in this budget which should be very helpful in the out years.”

Brady says reaching a compromise between Republican and Democratic leaders before the budget deadline was significant.

Greg Halbleib can be reached at [email protected].