SPRINGFIELD – Senator Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) released the following statement in response to Gov. Bruce Rauner’s budget address today:

“The governor failed basic budget math today. Forcing another government to pay your bills does not cut government spending or reduce the burden on taxpayers. It just shifts the blame to somebody else. Avoiding blame seems to be the governor’s specialty.”

“We’ve talked about responsibly shifting new teacher pension costs to school districts, but in a way that won’t hit property taxpayers. No one who is serious about governing would ever suggest the rapid and crippling ‘cost-shift’ the governor proposed today.”

“Secondly, you can’t brag about giving schools an additional $350 million while at the same time forcing $490 million in new costs on them. That’s not an increase – it’s a $140 million decrease.”

“The governor may tout the education funding reform bill as an accomplishment of his, but his proposed budget breaks the deal we made to increase funding for schools.”