Governor Bruce Rauner makes his annual budget address today before the Illinois General Assembly.
Democrats, such as Comptroller Susana Mendoza, say Rauner has never introduced a balanced budget.
"The governor's job is to introduce a balanced budget," she said. "He hasn't done that, and there's no way to sugarcoat that. That is not an alternative fact; that is a true fact."
Rauner disagrees.
“There's this common spin out there that I've never submitted a budget, or I’ve never submitted a balanced budget," he said. This spin is wrong."
One of the main points of disagreement came two years ago, when Rauner proposed selling the Thompson Center in Chicago and cutting government pension benefits, potentially saving billions of dollars.
But Democrats point to an Illinois statute that says governors can't use laws that don't yet exist to count as savings in their budget proposals. To date, neither the Thompson Center sale nor the pension changes have happened.
WNIJ will carry Governor Rauner's budget address live today at noon.
