Democrats think the governor’s budget address was lacking while Republicans thought the governor knocked it out of the park.

Democratic Senator Toi Hutchinson said Governor Bruce Rauner’s second budget address had a more positive tone and she’s hopeful there will be true negotiations, but said there were some things lacking from the speech.

“A little disappointed in that K-12 education, while we all care about that, is not the only thing that’s on the agenda,” Hutchinson said. “We have an entire social services safety net that is imploding across the state.”

Hutchinson also said there are some fundamental philosophical differences Democrats must iron out with Rauner and Republicans.

However, Republican Senator Kyle McCarter said the governor provided the best approach to fixing Illinois’s budget problems by reforming the state’s business climate.

“If we don’t have those structural reforms,” McCarter said, “we’re not going to attract people back to this state that can to pay taxes.”

Meanwhile Democratic Senator Heather Steans says after hearing the governor’s speech, she’s unclear what direction lawmakers should go.

“I just feel like we’re not yet clear on what the path is to get us there.”

Republican Senator Jim Oberweis said the governor laid out the path forward and the answer out of the budget mess is economic growth.

“And we need to pass the reforms that he’s proposed so we get our state growing again at the same kind of rate the rest of the country is,” Oberweis said.

Republicans McCarter and Oberweis echoed the governor’s call for economic reforms Republicans say are needed to increase the shrinking tax base.

Governor Rauner gave his second budget address more than seven and a half months into the fiscal year without a full budget in place.

 

 

 

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