Democrats were angry when most Republicans refused to vote on the "grand bargain" budget deal.
They blamed it on the intervention of Gov. Bruce Rauner, who’s reportedly been meeting with Republicans this week. Rauner says the deal isn’t good enough.
Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, says he’s never been ready to support the grand bargain. But he says both sides are closer than ever — and a little more delay is worth it.
“Part of the problem here are these expectations that people keep creating by saying, ‘Well this is the day — or this is gonna be the day,'" Rose says, "but if you look where you’ve gotten, in each incremental space there, you’re taking issues off the table.”
Meanwhile, Democratic Senate President John Cullerton says Rauner didn’t want the deal to go forward in its current form.
“The governor’s got to realize that this is as good as it’s going to get. Can we make some minor changes? Of course we can," Cullerton said. "But he’s got to grow up and get this solved. He’s the governor.”
Rauner has been pushing a permanent property tax freeze for two years. Democrats are offering a temporary freeze, and after three months of negotiations, they say they’ve gone as far as they can go.
Currently, the state is two years and $12 billion dollars behind in paying its bills.
- Brian Mackey, Tom Lisi and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
