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 But Republican Governor Bruce Rauner offered no sign of supporting
the measure for Monetary Award Program recipients after members of
his party pilloried the funding package as a "farce" because it did
not identify a specific revenue stream to pay for it.
Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelley declined to say whether the
governor intends to sign or veto the legislation, saying only
“Governor Rauner remains committed to reaching a balanced budget
alongside meaningful reforms in a bipartisan manner.”
Illinois’ public universities and community colleges and the MAP
program have only received a fraction of what they had expected from
the state since July because Rauner and the Democratic-led
legislature have yet to agree on a Fiscal 2016 spending plan.
 A stopgap $600 million higher-education funding package enacted by
Rauner last month offered some relief, but an early-May effort to
appropriate an additional $454 million on top of the April total
stalled in the Illinois House of Representatives after passing the
Senate.
In fiscal 2015, the last year in which Illinois had a full operating
budget, the state appropriated $357.1 million to the MAP program.
That amount provided for income-based grants of up to $4,968 to
128,399 students, the Illinois Student Assistance Commission
reported.
State Senator Donne Trotter, a Chicago Democrat and the
legislation's chief sponsor, said the package would “ensure that our
students can relieve themselves of some of the drama they’ve been
going through this year because of the inaction by this body and the
governor” in passing a budget.
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But Republicans ripped the plan, with Senator Chapin Rose, a
Republican from Mahomet, Ill., about 200 miles south of Chicago,
accusing the Senate majority of “writing a check that it darn well
knows cannot be cashed.”
The Senate passed the bill 39-15, with two members voting present -
enough to override any potential Rauner veto. But the 68-45 margin
during a Tuesday House vote fell three votes short of a veto-proof
majority, meaning Rauner could kill the measure if he chose to.
(Reporting by Dave McKinney; Editing by James Dalgleish)
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