The package lacks policy changes that Gov. Bruce Rauner had pushed as part of any spending plan. | AP Photo Illinois Republicans help override Rauner's veto, sealing budget deal

In an extraordinary rebuke to GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner, a group of Illinois House Republicans joined the Democratic majority to override the governor’s veto of a $36 billion budget.

Thursday’s action ends a stalemate that has stretched two years, causing the state to build up a $15 billion backlog and teeter on the edge of an unprecedented "junk" bond rating downgrade.


The passage means the state has a budget for the first time since 2015 — when Rauner first took office. “

No other state in the union had gone this long without an operating budget.

The agreed-upon budget package increases the state personal income tax from 3.75 percent to 4.95 percent and the corporate income tax from 5.25 percent to 7 percent.

The package lacks policy changes that Rauner had pushed as part of any spending plan — a demand that was at the core of a protracted political fight that has stalled progress in the state.

The voting capped an intense day at the Illinois Capitol, which was on lockdown after a security incident. That delayed the voting by two hours.

In all, 10 House Republicans and one Senate Republican broke from Rauner to vote with Democrats in an override. It was with the help of 16 Republicans overall that the budget bill was sent to Rauner in the first place.

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For two years, Rauner had a tight grip — and considerable influence — over legislative members in his party. The Republican governor, who has already deposited $50 million into his campaign account, spent more than $1 million in an unsuccessful attempt to oust just one Republican member who had broke from the ranks on a bill involving unions.

GOP Floor Leader Steven Andersson said he didn't want to support a tax increase but he also did not want to oversee the destruction of his district.

"For those of you who say there's a better option, do you have the votes? No. You do not have the votes!" Andersson said. He said the choice is between saving the state "or let it melt down."

The budget package needed 71 votes to override the governor's veto. The most controversial of the budget bills, a move to hike the state's income tax, passed with Republican support — and with no votes to spare.

Rep. Tom Morrison, a Republican, said an income tax increase would only cause more Illinois residents to leave the state.

"We're squeezing so hard, we're squeezing them out, we're reducing our base of taxpayers,” he said.

Any budget passage relieves pressure for Rauner, already considered the most vulnerable gubernatorial incumbent in the country. At one point, analysts feared the governor would be unable to pass a budget in the entirety of his first term as governor. Now a budget has happened in spite of him.

Rauner is attempting to capitalize on a tax increase vote to demonstrate to voters that he is needed to battle Illinois Democrats. Having so many Republicans break with him on an override, however, could scuttle those plans.

Illinois GOP Party Chair Tim Schneider was already promising revenge.

“After all we have accomplished together, it is astonishing that these legislators would now turn their backs on taxpayers across the state,” Schneider said in a statement. “I am confident voters will hold those politicians accountable for choosing Mike Madigan over the people of Illinois.”

Rauner called the vote for a permanent tax increase that amounts to a 32 percent hike, another in “Illinois’ never-ending tragic trail of tax hikes,” which he firmly blamed on Madigan. Rauner also had supported a proposal to increase income taxes by 32 percent — but on a temporary basis, along with policy changes including to workers compensation and freezing property taxes.

“His tax-and-spend plan is not balanced, does not cut enough spending or pay down enough debt, and does not help grow jobs or restore confidence in government,” Rauner said in a statement. “It proves how desperately we need real property tax relief and term limits. Now more than ever, the people of Illinois must fight for change that will help us create a brighter future.”

Democrats complained they attempted to work with the governor on some of those changes but that he kept wanting more. Earlier this session, Rauner scuttled a bipartisan package in the state Senate that included a temporary property tax freeze, among other changes that he said didn't go far enough.

Madigan said the state could not move forward until the budget impasse concluded.

“Today, Republicans and Democrats stood together to enact a bipartisan, balanced budget and end a destructive 736-day impasse,” Madigan said. “The people in this chamber did not do what was easy today. But we did what was right for the future of our state.”

This article tagged under: Illinois

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