SPRINGFIELD Illinois Senate President John Cullerton plans to call a spending and revenue package for a vote on Tuesday. <\/p>\n
The Senate adjourned on Monday without taking votes on the revenue and spending measures, which had met with bipartisan support Sunday in the Illinois House. <\/p>\n
Cullerton left a leaders meeting Monday afternoon sans Republican leaders saying hes working to get enough votes and wouldnt call the measures until hes confident they can pass. Soon after, Cullertons office confirmed there will be budget votes on Tuesday. <\/p>\n
The revenue, spending and budget implementation bills need 36 votes for approval. The budget implementation bill cleared the Illinois House on Monday. There are 37 Democrats in the Senate, but not all are on board for a tax hike. There is also a Democratic senator who is ill and would have to be brought in should they need his vote. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan said he plans to override any of Gov. Bruce Rauners threatened vetoes of the budget bills that had passed the House over the weekend. Madigan said he planned to meet with leaders again on Tuesday. Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkins office said he wont attend, citing a breakdown in negotiations. <\/p>\n
Earlier Monday, with a real threat of the states credit dropping to junk without an agreement soon, two of the major credit rating agencies issued statements expressing some optimism about the situation. <\/p>\n
Fitch Ratings said Monday it is monitoring the developments. It issued a statement calling weekend developments concrete progress on reaching an agreement to break the two-year long budget impasse. <\/p>\n
Standard & Poors, meanwhile, issued a statement saying that the increased likelihood that Illinois will soon have a budget in place is a development with significant credit implications. <\/p>\n
On the other hand, Standard & Poors also noted a ruling last week by a federal judge, who ordered the state to begin Medicaid payments totaling more than $500 million a month. <\/p>\n
The protracted failure of Illinois lawmakers to assert governing control over the states finances has, in effect, begun to directly undermine the states discretion over the allocation of its resources, the statement said. Enactment of a comprehensive budget with revenue and expenditure alignment could help put a halt to this erosion of the states sovereignty over its fiscal affairs. <\/p>\n
The agency concluded that if a budget is approved, any change in the states credit rating will depend in part on the degree to which it closes the states structural deficit, provides a pathway for addressing the backlog of unpaid bills, and its impact on cash flows <\/p>\n
Fitch also noted partial budgets would result in a downgrade of Illinois rating. Fitch downgraded Illinois rating to BBB on Feb. 1; the lowest investment-grade rating is BBB-minus; after that, the credit rating falls to junk status. <\/p>\n
A third major ratings agencies, Moodys, had issued no statements on Illinois by early Monday afternoon. <\/p>\n
On Sunday, 15 House Republicans joined with Democrats to approve the revenue package. Just two of those House Republicans areas are represented by Democratic senators. <\/p>\n
Those House Republicans, with their senators, are as follows: <\/p>\n
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Originally posted here: <\/p>\n
No vote Monday; Senate to take up budget bills on Tuesday - Chicago Sun-Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SPRINGFIELD Illinois Senate President John Cullerton plans to call a spending and revenue package for a vote on Tuesday. The Senate adjourned on Monday without taking votes on the revenue and spending measures, which had met with bipartisan support Sunday in the Illinois House. Cullerton left a leaders meeting Monday afternoon sans Republican leaders saying hes working to get enough votes and wouldnt call the measures until hes confident they can pass. Continue reading