March 10--Democratic Senate President John Cullerton on Monday said Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic leaders are far from a deal on plugging this year's budget hole because the new governor has not invited his counterparts in the General Assembly to sit down for face-to-face negotiations.
Cullerton's comments shed some light on a looming short-term issue at the Capitol. Rauner has insisted that a deal is imminent to fix the $1.6 billion shortfall in the spending plan that runs through June 30, yet weeks have gone by and no such deal has emerged.
"We haven't actually sat down and had a meeting where the leaders and the governor talk about our (2015) budget," Cullerton told reporters after making remarks to the City Club of Chicago. "We've had our staff people do it. So maybe that's what they do in Washington or the private sector, but ... we haven't had an actual negotiation."
Rauner spokesman Lance Trover said Cullerton and Rauner have met "repeatedly" and that Cullerton "has had every opportunity to discuss any issue he wants, including the ongoing negotiations between his office and the governor's office over the $1.6 billion budget hole Gov. Rauner inherited."
Last week, Senate Democrats gave preliminary approval to a plan that would sweep $580 million from special funds to help plug the hole, but Republicans dismissed the bill as a political stunt. On Monday, Cullerton described the fund-sweep measure as "just an option."
"The governor has asked for a broader solution, and so we're open-minded to negotiate with him," Cullerton said.
The way Cullerton describes the situation, Democrats are just waiting for an invitation from Rauner.
"He hasn't scheduled one, and he's the governor," Cullerton said.
Rauner acknowledged last week that progress on closing the current budget shortfall had stalled.
"We had a general outline for how to allocate the money five weeks ago," Rauner said Friday after an event in Yorkville. "It's been slowed down in the legislature, for reasons that still aren't totally clear to me. But we're really close. I believe we're going to come to a resolution in the coming days."
Cullerton's comments came after he had delivered a speech that blasted Rauner's proposed spending plan for the budget year that starts July 1. Rauner wants to slash an estimated $6.6 billion in spending, including cuts to higher education, transportation and social service programs, and reducing the amount of tax revenue that gets passed along to municipalities, including Chicago.
"This budget is not the shared sacrifice he promised in his inauguration speech," Cullerton said.
