Gov. Bruce Rauner made a stop in Galesburg to talk with WGIL, tout the stop gap budget he signed last week and to have a beer.
The Republican Governor said the six month budget and full year spending plan for schools he signed last week accomplishes a few things.
One, it’s balanced.
Rauner tells Galesburg’s Evening News on WGIL that looking through the past 25 years he can’t find an Illinois balanced budget.
“We always spend more than we bring in, and to cover it, we don’t pay our pensions, or we don’t pay our bills or we borrow from the bond market,” Rauner says. “This is wrong, it’s not sustainable and it’s pushed a lot of employers and a lot of jobs out of the state. So, I pushed for a balanced budget.”
He also reiterated his call for a number of reforms, including for worker’s compensation, pensions and politics.
Illinois has been a “one party state” according to Rauner, saying that Democrats have “spent us into a ditch.”
Changing how political maps are drawn and introducing term limits he believes would go a long way toward political reform.
He emphasized the importance of funding K-12 education at the full level while avoiding a “bailout” for the Chicago Public Schools.
“We’ll give Chicago a little bit more, but we want all school districts to get more that are low income and we got that done,” Rauner says. “That’s a big victory for our teachers and our taxpayers across Illinois.”
Afterwards, Rauner made his way next door to the Iron Spike Brewing Company where he sampled a Gold Rush IPA and call the local brewery a “great spot.”
He was also met with two protesters outside who held signs picketing Rauner’s attempts to weaken union power.
