A press release from Governor Bruce Rauner:

Chicago Tribune Confirms: Speaker Madigan Refuses Compromise and Reform

Breaking news from the Chicago Tribune:

“…The rookie Republican governor said he was ‘encouraged’ by comments from Senate President John Cullerton, who said after the meeting with Rauner that Democrats were open to compromising on points of the governor’s agenda. But Rauner said earlier promises by Democrats to work together have been hollow so far, noting a series of votes in recent weeks in which they soundly rejected most of his plans.

‘There has never been true effort at compromise coming the other way. There are now statements today that they’re willing to talk about compromise. But we’ll know by Sunday night. We’ll either have a deal Sunday night or we won’t,’ Rauner said during his first news conference in more than two weeks. ‘And anybody who says, well, we didn’t have enough time, that’s baloney. That’s wrong. We’ve had plenty of time. And every issue we’re discussing now has been vetted in detail for a long time.’

Cullerton said he was willing to work toward a deal, but not within the governor’s timeline.

“That would be very difficult to get an agreement on the language on a number of those proposals in that short period of time and we’ve kind of acknowledged that,” Cullerton said after meeting with Rauner.

Mike Madigan (from Statehouse News video)

Rauner would not specify what has to happen by Sundaynight to satisfy his demands, but did point to two key issues he’s pushed: a freeze on local property taxes and a specific change to the workers compensation system that would put in place tougher standards for employees to prove they were injured on the job.

House Speaker Michael Madigan remains opposed to Rauner’s agenda. Madigan repeatedly has criticized Rauner for trying to leverage the annual budget making process to push through his agenda. Rauner has said he would not talk about a tax increase to plug a multi-billion deficit unless lawmakers first signed off on his ideas.