Illinois Senate President John Cullerton says he had a simple message for House Republican Leader Tom Cross in the waning hours of the spring legislative session: "See you in July."
As you probably know by now, Cullerton's Senate voted to add $430 million to the House's austere state spending plan. The Senate initially wanted to spend a billion dollars more than the House, but many of Cullerton's Democratic members demanded that they at least get something, so they came up with a list totaling $430 million.
House Speaker Michael Madigan couldn't agree to the additional spending unless Leader Cross also signed off, because the two had decided months earlier to stand together on the budget. Cross said he wouldn't agree to the additional Senate spending, even though Cullerton said he'd found a way to pay for it.