Madigan attaches poison pill to federal funds bill

Hundreds of millions of dollars in new spending
Governor Rauner will sign clean bill as promised, veto Madigan's spending legislation

SPRINGFIELD - Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and the legislators he controls are considering an amendment to SB 2042 - the bill appropriating money for the pass through of federal dollars, which as a clean bill would have no impact on the state's budget deficit - that would increase General Revenue spending by nearly $600 million.

"Governor Rauner has supported and continues to support a clean federal pass through appropriations bill," Rauner Spokesman Lance Trover said. "Unfortunately, Speaker Madigan continues to play games with taxpayer money and is trying to force through higher state spending with no budget."

Tim Nuding, Director of the Governor's Office of Management and Budget, issued the attached memo to the Governor's Deputy Chief of Staff outlining that the line of spending included by Speaker Madigan is identical to the spending in the unconstitutional, unbalanced budget that the Democrat majority passed earlier this summer.