Gov. Bruce Rauner probably won't be celebrating for long.
Newly elected Gov. Bruce Rauner (R-IL) and multimillionaire former private equity investor has an
all-too familiar plan for getting his state out of a deep economic hole: cut vital services, education, and public pensions.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois' new Republican governor on Wednesday will pitch a plan for fixing the state's budget mess that includes deep cuts to Medicaid and higher education and a new plan for reducing pension costs, according to three lawmakers with knowledge of the proposal. […]
The three legislators, briefed on details of the plan discussed in a Tuesday meeting between Rauner and legislative leaders, told The Associated Press that the governor will recommend cutting Medicaid by $1.5 billion and reducing funding for higher education by nearly $400 million, or 31 percent. They said he'll also propose reducing state aid to local governments and ask lawmakers to approve a new pension reform plan he says will save Illinois $2.2 billion.
What's not in the plan, of course, is reversing a state income tax cut that went into effect on January 1, or raising taxes at all. Additionally, Rauner is said to be proposing a hiring of more prison guards, and—to meet a federal court mandate that requires Illinois to improve its services—increase spending on mental health services to inmates.
The good news for people in the state who need Medicare, their pension, and higher education, Illinois still has a Democratic legislature, with veto-proof margins in both chambers. The worst of Rauner's cuts therefore aren't likely to pass and Democrats might actually be able to get something done to more responsibly start digging the state out of its $6 billon hole.