North Cook News

State Rep. Brad Stephens (R-Rosemont) is looking to put the state’s budget to bed this week after a missed May 19 deadline. 

“On Friday, I joined Leader (Tony) McCombie (R-Savanna) and House Republican leaders to provide a budget update and urge the Democrat supermajority to include Republicans at the table,” Stephens said on Facebook. “Let’s work together this week to produce a good budget for the people of Illinois." 

The budget was scheduled to be passed by Friday, May 19, at midnight. The General Assembly has until May 31 to pass a budget prior to the fiscal year ending June 30. Democrats sent notice to legislators on Friday that the session was being extended regarding the $50 billion budget negotiations. Legislators will next be in session May 24-26 when a final budget is expected.

According to Capitol News Illinois the draft budget has not been seen by many in the General Assembly. State Rep. Jeff Keicher (R-Sycamore) has been denied in his repeated requests for a draft copy of the budget which will top 1,000 pages. “Funny story,” Keicher said. “After I made my inquiry last night, I had eight members of the other side of the aisle suggest to me that they hadn't seen one either.” Keicher’s sentiment was backed up by State Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-Swansea) who responded, “You’re asking me?” When Keicher asked him about a draft.

One point of contention is spending on Medicare for immigrants which takes up nearly $1 billion of the projected budget of $50 billion. The program is for those aged 42 and older. Democratic lawmakers sought to lower that bar to those 19 years old and older but have been unable to move the legislation.

Others are taking the Democratic leadership to task for how the budget process is handled. “Only a few top leaders in the Democratic supermajority in the General Assembly will have much of an understanding of the budget when over a thousand pages of budget bills get shoved to members for a vote, probably this week,” Mark Glennon wrote in Wirepoints. “The rest of us will get a full story only in coming months, if ever."