CHICAGO — Bruce Rauner says he has no regrets becoming Illinois governor despite the roadblocks he’s faced in his legislative battles with House Speaker Mike Madigan.
The governor stopped by WGN Morning News Tuesday for the first time since he took office a year and a half ago.
The governor says he’s willing to compromise to settle the budget stalemate.
“I’m not going to sign an unbalanced budget. I know that’s a novel idea in Illinois government, but I’m not going to sign an unbalanced budget,” Rauner said on WGN. “We should not put a tax hike on the people of Illinois to try to balance a budget unless we get reforms to protect our property tax payers — our property taxes are the highest in America, homeowners in Chicago are getting crushed with higher taxes, we got to protect them.”
He continued: “We’ve got to change the way we compete in our economy. We don’t have enough jobs in our communities and our neighborhoods. If we get those reforms, I’ll support a balanced budget with some new revenues. I’ll support a tax hike even though I’d rather not. I’ll do that as a compromise.”
Rauner says his administration has had success in cutting millions of dollars in wasteful spending.
