Illinois lawmakers are racing to push through legislation to end a record-long budget impasse and avoid becoming the only U.S. state with a junk credit rating, Bloomberg News reported on Monday. Lawmakers are in session after the Democrat-run House of Representatives approved an income-tax increase with 15 Republican votes on Sunday, signaling bipartisan will to end the stalemate even though Governor Bruce Rauner (R) vowed to veto it if the measure clears the Senate. The House also sent a $36 billion spending plan to the Senate amid concern that credit-rating companies will pull Illinois’s investment-grade rating if a budget isn’t enacted. S&P Global Ratings called the weekend developments a “crucial step” toward ending the stalemate. Illinois has entered its third year without a budget because of a clash between the Republican governor and lawmakers over how to close the government’s chronic deficits. Unpaid bills have soared to a record $15 billion, and by August the state is set to run out of money for key expenses for the first time since the stalemate began, according to Comptroller Susana Mendoza, a Democrat.
