The Illinois Senate is ditching its promise to vote on a compromise budget plan by the end of the month.
The plan was to vote on the massive bipartisan effort this week...but Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno says they weren't quite ready.
"That is by no means a statement that we are backing off this effort. Almost everyone who has been involved in this knows it's incredibly complicated, and the more you try to refine it, the more issues pop up."
Senate President John Cullerton says the delay is not necessarily bad news.
"So, if we need more time to pull this together, I'm going to consider that encouraging. We have a bunch of questions that have been posed by our members in the caucus. We're going to get those answered. But, then it's going to come time to make a decision."
Cullerton told his members they should be prepared to vote on the so-called "grand bargain" when they return to Springfield the week of February 7th.
Cullerton and Radogno brokered a bipartisan deal that includes tax increases to drive down a multibillion-dollar deficit and restructures laws and regulations that Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner demands to boost the economy and curb politicians' power.
