A court hearing scheduled for Tuesday has the potential to shake up Illinois' already-precarious financial situation. Organizations that run the state’s Medicaid program are asking a judge to speed up their payments.
A day after the Illinois General Assembly ended its spring session without passing a budget, two bond rating agencies have downgraded the state’s credit.
Wednesday is the last day of the Illinois General Assembly's annual legislative session. It also happens to mark 700 days since Illinois last had a real budget. Majority Democrats still aren’t saying whether they plan to do anything about that.
Illinois Democrats remain divided over how to address the state’s financial crisis. House Democrats are trying to decide whether to follow the lead of their counterparts in the Senate, who voted last week to to raise income taxes and expand the sales tax.
The Illinois Senate has approved a $5 billion income tax increase to fund what Democrats say would be a balanced, $37.3 billion budget.
A Democratic majority pushed the measures through despite opposition from Republicans.
