Will County Gazette

Rep. Grant Wehrli (R-Naperville) and 30 fellow lawmakers sent a bipartisan letter from the House to the Senate recently, urging their colleagues to come to an agreement on a state budget.

“We’re down to our last three weeks of our scheduled spring session, and so far, Speaker Madigan has refused to allow the House to even complete the first step in our budget process: determining how much money we will have to spend,” Wehrli said. “We must immediately adopt a realistic revenue estimate so we can then plan our spending accordingly.”

House Republicans have introduced three resolutions that would establish a revenue estimate. One is based on figures from the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, another uses numbers from the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget, and third is an average of the two.

So far, the resolutions have gone nowhere.

“We need to enact a responsible budget, and we can do that in the session weeks remaining if we first adopt a revenue estimate so we agree on how much we will have to spend, and then continue to build on the hard work the Senate has done on appropriations and reforms,” Wehrli said. “Another temporary, partial spending plan is not an option. Our families and communities need stability, and it’s past time for us to get the job done.”