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Budget Movement: Maybe Yes Maybe No

Illinois State Capitol exterior
Justin Brocke
/
Flickr

There's intense pressure on Illinois lawmakers to pass a budget before Friday, when a new fiscal year begins.  Governor Bruce Rauner spent hours meeting with legislative leaders Wednesday morning and negotiations are expected to continue throughout the day.  

After a year without a state budget, word is an agreement may be shaping up between the Republican governor and the Democrats who control the General Assembly.
 
Here's Republican Rep. Dan Brady, of Bloomington.

"There's a likelihood of a, the bridge budget, the stopgap budget if you will," said Brady.

If it pans out, that would lead to a temporary spending plan for universities, social services and government operations. A source says that would be separate from funding for schools; something Brady calls a "tender nerve."

Democrats favor spending hundreds of millions of dollars more on education, in part to help out the financially struggling Chicago Public Schools.

A deal on that could be in the works -- perhaps by allowing Chicago to raise its property taxes. Brady says there needs to be a way to avoid the perception of what Republicans and downstaters call a CPS "bailout."

Amanda Vinicky moved to Chicago Tonight on WTTW-TV PBS in 2017.
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