Illinois lawmakers have adjourned their regular legislative session without approving a spending plan for the third consecutive year.
The Democrat-controlled Legislature and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner are already deadlocked in the nation’s longest-running state budget standoff. They left the Capitol late Wednesday, again without a budget deal.
Legislators faced a 12:01 a.m. deadline Thursday to adopt an annual budget or face the prospect of needing supermajority votes to approve one.
The House adjourned without taking up a $37 billion Senate spending plan, saying Senate Republicans didn’t provide any votes. House Speaker Michael Madigan says Democrats will meet in “continuous session” over the summer to negotiate a deal.
Rauner, a businessman who took office in 2015, blames Democrats for not enacting pro-business and union-curbing measures he says will help dig Illinois out of its fiscal troubles. Democrats claim Rauner’s demands are unrelated to the budget and an attack on the middle class.