Governor Rauner is casting doubt on whether a meeting with legislative leaders would do much to resolve the budget crisis, unless House Speaker Michael Madigan were to take part.
Rauner said that he'd be willing to meet with lawmakers, but says Madigan has been reluctant to do so in the past. Rauner also criticized the stopgap budget approved by the Illinois House last week because it fails to address the reforms he's made a condition of his signing on to a budget deal.
Rauner denied that he's trying to use financial struggling public universities and social service agencies as leverage to force a deal.
