The Latest: Rauner rips Democrats on Illinois budget tour
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - The Latest on the failure of Illinois lawmakers and the governor to end the state budget standoff (all times local):
1:55 p.m.
Gov. Bruce Rauner is using a statewide, campaign-style tour to rip Democrats who control the Illinois Legislature for failing to approve a state budget.
The Republican governor appeared with a GOP candidate for state Senate on Wednesday at the Vienna Correctional Center in southern Illinois.
He says Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan has controlled Illinois for 30 years and the state has huge deficits and billions in debt.
Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton argue Rauner's yearlong insistence on passing pro-business legislation and curbing union power is the reason for the 11-month budget impasse.
Lawmakers adjourned their spring session late Tuesday without agreeing on a budget for the second straight year. That's put schools and universities in danger of closing and could lead to cuts in critical state services.
___
12:55 p.m.
University of Illinois President Timothy Killeen says that the prospect of another year with limited or no state funding makes him "gravely concerned" the school may have to lay off employees or cut course offerings.
Lawmakers adjourned Tuesday without agreeing on a budget for either the current fiscal year or the one that will begin next month.
Killeen stressed that the university is not in danger of closing a campus. Another state school, Chicago State University, faced the possibility of closure this spring and laid off a third of its employees.
But Killeen said "all options are on the table" at the University of Illinois if it continues to live without public funding.
Already the university is preparing to lay off an unspecified number of its non-teaching workers this summer.
___
8:35 a.m.
Bruce Rauner is setting off on a five-stop tour around the state to discuss the 11-month budget standoff between the Republican governor and Democratic lawmakers.
Illinois was poised to enter a second year without a budget after lawmakers finished their legislative session Tuesday without agreement on a spending plan.
Rauner proposed a last-minute, short-term budget to give the state some near-term stability. But that failed to gain traction with Democrats, who have opposed the governor's yearlong insistence on passing pro-business legislation and curbing the power of unions.
The governor's Wednesday tour will pass through Alton, Vienna, Mahomet, Quincy and Pekin.
___
12:40 a.m.
Illinois lawmakers finished their spring session without a budget and with little hope that the Democrats' 11-month standoff with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner over a spending plan will end any time soon.
Democrats who control both chambers of the Legislature spent the last chaotic hours of the session Tuesday trying to rush bills to the finish line and failed to come up with a viable budget proposal.
The Senate overwhelmingly rejected the House's $40 billion budget plan that was out-of-balance by $7 billion. Shortly thereafter, the House returned the favor and defeated the Senate's $16 billion education budget by a large margin.
Democrats say they'll work with Rauner to find a short-term budget that gets the state to the end of the year. Rauner called the session a "stunning failure."