AP) — Pressure is building for Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and majority Democrats to end their months-long stalemate over Illinois' budget, though lawmakers appear no closer to a deal as they reconvene on Tuesday for the first time in weeks.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. The United Way of Illinois said a survey of human service agencies shows more than three-quarters have cut services and almost one-third expect to run out of money within a month. Meanwhile business and labor leaders and some of Rauner's fellow Republicans — including former Gov. Jim Edgar — were stepping up calls for a truce."It doesn't help to continue fighting with each other ... We've got to get together, work together," GOP Comptroller Leslie Munger, a Rauner appointee, told reporters Monday. "Everyone has to give some and get a balanced budget with reforms in place. The sooner we do it, the better off we'll be."Rauner and Democrats who run the Legislature have been fighting since spring over the budget for the July 1 fiscal year. Democrats want Rauner to agree to a tax increase to help close a roughly $5 billion budget hole, but the governor won't approve a hike until the Legislature approves changes he wants, such as a property tax freeze and curbs to public-employee union powers.
But have no fear as the Kanosian mass migration from Illinois will eventually balance the budget.
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