A special legislative committee appointed to review Gov. Bruce Rauner's budget decisions will hold its first meeting Tuesday. House Speaker Michael Madigan announced on Friday that the panel will examine the Illinois state budget, and Gov. Bruce Rauner's influence on it.
It's either a sign of a contentious budget battle or an early attempt at reaching a compromise.
Madigan doesn't say straight out that Rauner's sudden elimination of state grants to support after-school programs and the victims of AIDS and autism and are to blame -- but he hints at it strongly. In a news release, Madigan says he's forming the special budget oversight panel "in light of recent budget actions." Madigan says that, given how much the governor's talked about cutting "non-essential state spending," it's important for lawmakers to discuss just what that means.
Democratic Rep. John Bradley of Marion will co-chair the committee. Asked whether Rauner has made too many budget cuts already, Bradley says he's not ready to reach any conclusions yet.
"The depth and enormity of what's going on is significant," Bradley said. "Something that we haven't faced, I don't believe. And so there's a lot at stake. And if we're going to protect the security of the middle class, if we're going to look at the budget from a responsible and wise perspective, I think this is something which is important."
One of Rauner's legislative allies, Republican Rep. Ed Sullivan of Mundelein, says it seems political.
"I want to see where the speaker wants to go with this, and it's just not an avenue to whack the governor for, in essence, doing his job," Sullivan says. "You never had these panels when the Democrats were putting their budgets out the past 12 years when they ran everything."
Sullivan says the Speaker needs to share responsibility for the recent $26 million grant suspensions, which followed a bipartisan agreement on a $1.6 billion budget hole for the current fiscal year. Sullivan says that, during those negotiations, Democrats took other options off the table, leaving Rauner with fewer options to cover the hole.
The governor's office didn't directly respond to a question on how it viewed the new budget oversight panel, and whether it will cooperate. Rauner's spokeswoman offered a statement saying the governor is committed to fixing Illinois' fiscal crisis -- and working with the legislature to do it.
Rauner's office says the recent, bipartisan agreement on the FY15 budget protects core state services for thousands of residents.
The panel’s first meeting is scheduled for Tuesday.