Deficit Grows Higher as Illinois Struggles to Agree on a Budget

Norine HammondThe state deficit continues to grow as Governor Bruce Rauner and Illinois Lawmakers continue the budget impasse.State Representative Norine Hammond says right now they are looking at a $6 billion dollar deficit by the end of this fiscal year.

Hammond tells WGIL that the state is continuously running out of money.

“Every day that we are delayed and we don’t have a budget in place, the debt continues to grow and it grows deeper and deeper,” says Hammond. “I was talking to someone the other day, and they said, ‘well, when do we run out of money’ and I said, ‘actually, we run out of money every day'”.

Hammond says the state has an estimated revenue around $32 billion this year, with expenses totaling $38 billion.

State Representative Don Moffitt says anything that’s being done beyond finding a balanced budget is just a temporary way of dealing Don Moffittwith the problem.

“I don’t like where we are at,” says Moffitt. “I wish we’d had a budget by the end of May, a budget that’s got bi-partisan support, and lived within our means, and that’s the goal, that’s the objective, that’s where we should be. But we’re not, so anything else that’s being done is just essentially stop gap.”

Rauner and Illinois legislators are entering a fourth month in the fiscal year without a budget.

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