SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan is calling on the governor to concentrate on the budget in the face of another downgrade of the state’s credit rating.
Fitch Ratings on Monday downgraded Illinois’ rating on $26 billion in outstanding bonds because of the crisis, and Moody’s Investors Service warned that the state’s inability to make its November pension payment could further hurt its already dismal credit rating.
Madigan said that the lack of resolution on the state budget and the credit downgrade are direct results of the governor’s continued focus on issues other than solving our budget crisis.
Catherine Kelly is spokeswoman for Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. She says Rauner is fighting to “put the state on the path to fiscal health,” but the Democrat-led Legislature is standing in his way.