A fair compromise on the state budget appears to have surfaced in Springfield in the past couple of days. Insiders say it touches on all of the key hot-button issues that both sides have raised, including some movement on term limits, pension reform and workers' compensation changes in exchange for a tax hike, with key Democrats and Republicans said to be on board.

But you haven't heard much about the pending deal, have you? In fact, except for Rich Miller at CapitolFax, who broke the story, no one has covered it.

Consider that a testament to the intransigence of the two main antagonists who have held the state without a regular budget for more than a year and a half: Gov. Bruce Rauner and House Speaker Mike Madigan. Is either one willing to move?

While they ponder, a series of recent reports suggest that the state's financial hole appears to be deepening in a hurry. Will the pressure build enough to force action?

The pending deal is a result of discussions between the Senate's top Democrat, John Cullerton, and his GOP counterpart, Christine Radogno. Though neither of their staffs will say much, and some crucial details are not yet known, sources confirm that over the holidays, the two agreed on a framework that could be submitted to their members as soon as Monday, Jan. 9, when lawmakers return to Springfield for a scheduled two-day session.

Rauner and the Republicans reportedly would get the term limits the governor desperately wants, but only for legislative leaders, not the rank-and-file workers. And those term limits wouldn't kick in for a few years, so Madigan—who can't live forever, can he?—would still have some time.

Read more:

• Why Rauner is pushing term limits so hard

• Rauner calls on Dems to allow term limits vote

• C'mon, Dems: Throw Rauner a bone before everyone leaves Illinois

The deal would also lack the permanent property tax freeze that Rauner wants but would have a two-year one. That would allow time for a legislative panel to redraft the state's school funding code, which Democrats have been pushing.

Also in the package, I'm told, are some relatively modest but face-saving changes in the workers' comp system. And unspecified changes in state worker pensions, perhaps the "consideration" mode that Cullerton has been pushing for a while.

In exchange, adequate votes would be guaranteed to boost the state income tax back to around the 5 percent level where it was under ex-Gov. Pat Quinn, with a new statewide tax on sugary drinks tossed in to raise more money.

Like I said, neither Cullerton nor Radogno will talk about this right now. Cullerton, in particular, long has been willing to do a deal.

Rauner isn't publicly or privately endorsing the deal yet, and if he wants it to move, he's eventually going to have to take the risk and do that. But his folks have tacitly sent a green light of sorts, with both the governor and key staffers notably declining to criticize the proposal.

That leaves Madigan.

Initial signs are not good.

"We don't know what the proposal is, so I can't comment," said Madigan spokesman Steve Brown, adding that his boss "believes that the House is subjected to term limits every two years" when members run for re-election.

But if Rauner really is willing to buy this—and he darned well better be, if he expects anyone to seriously consider re-electing him in 2018—Madigan would be a fool to reject it. The speaker will never get a better deal, one that provides money for the programs the state (and many Democratic constituents) badly need with only a small dose of that structural change the governor wants.

I'd also urge the speaker to consider what's happening to the state while this war continues.

Illinois' population is dropping. The state's prime tool to lure jobs, Edge tax credits, expired on Jan. 1. Employment growth has slowed. The pile of unpaid state bills has passed the $11 billion mark. The budget for state colleges and universities and many social services agencies ended on Jan. 1.

At least as bad, a new report by Standard & Poor's says that Illinois revenues now have turned negative, with the state running $732 million, or 6.3 percent, below budget so far in fiscal 2017—worse in dollars than any other state, and larger on a percentage basis than any states except oil-dependent Oklahoma and North Dakota.

That spells crisis in my book, and while Madigan almost certainly will be re-elected speaker next week, he's having to work harder than ever to hold his caucus together.

It's time, Mr. Speaker and Mr. Governor. Just make the deal.