GOP Leaders Stand By Rauner Call For Reform

John Gregory -- Illinois Radio Network

If there’s a compromise to be reached on the budget stalemate, Republican leaders says it’s up to Democrats to offer concessions.

House Minority Leader Jim Durkin is firmly behind Gov. Bruce Rauner’s stance that his agenda must be passed along with a spending plan. Durkin doesn’t want the governor to back off his demands, even if Democrats aren’t willing to consider proposals like limits on collective bargaining.

“Then we won’t have a budget,” Durkin said, “but the fact is…the question of reasonableness, to me, is real easy. The governor’s willing to negotiate and to compromise and to accommodate the Democrats on their top priority, and that’s revenue.”

Rauner has said if Democrats won’t pass his agenda, they should act quickly to pass a tax increase on their own, which he claimed they can achieve because of their supermajorities in both the House and Senate. A handful of House Democrats, however, are likely to vote against a tax hike, but Durkin isn’t concerned with the other party’s vote count.

“That’s not (Rauner’s) problem, that’s the Democrats’ problem,” Durkin said.

When asked whether he’d allow his own members to vote for a tax hike, Durkin didn't directly answer the question, only saying the stance of his caucus has been “no revenue before reforms.”