Beiser calls for budget negotiations

SPRINGFIELD – State Rep. Dan Beiser, D-Alton, issued the following statement on Gov. Bruce Rauner’s budget address on Wednesday:

“Throughout my time in office, I have called for a responsible budget that protects working families, but over the past year, we have seen multiple attempts to hurt the middle-class and cushion the pockets of multi-million dollar corporations. Today, the governor continued his push for policies that would hurt the middle-class constituents I represent, and I am disappointed that he did not use his time in front of the entire General Assembly to start compromising.

“Since July, many working families have been going without the essential services that they rely upon because the governor has been pushing for an agenda that is designed to drive down wages. Not only is his agenda bad for Illinois, but people across the state are against it. We need to be protecting programs that people depend upon every day just to get by.

“I stand ready to compromise on a responsible budget that reduces government waste while also supporting our working and middle class families, but we can’t begin to start talking about next year’s budget when these services are still going unfunded. I call on the governor to put his non-budgetary items aside and start compromising.”

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