Illinois General Assembly OKs $53.1B state budget, but it takes all night

SPRINGRFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Illinois General Assembly has adopted a $53.1 billion state budget for the year that begins July 1, but it took the House until the break of dawn on Wednesday to get it done.

Constitutional requirements that legislation be read publicly over three days before a vote is held and prompted the House to convene Tuesday for a marathon session lasting into Wednesday. The all-night drama was prolonged when some Democrats, jittery about spending, joined Republicans in denying Democrats a needed majority for a time.

Speaker Pro Tempore Jehan Gordon-Booth of Peoria, the Democrats’ chief budget negotiator, said that no one was getting all they wanted in the deal.

“I truly believe that this budget puts Illinois forward,” Gordon-Booth said. “Because we aren’t going to be about the politics of pitting vulnerable people against one another, we are going to be about the business of lifting all of our people up.”

Democrats hold a 78-40 advantage in the House and managed the minimum 60 votes on a tax package after multiple votes to lock up the proposal.

Earlier in the week, Senate Republicans noted that annual spending has grown $12.8 billion, or 32%, since Pritzker took office in 2019. Pritzker said he would sign the budget into law.

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