Rep. Tom Demmer (R-Dixon) recently called out Democrats in the House for attempting to coerce passage of the state's public school funding bill, arguing that they believe stalling will end up persuading Republican legislators to side with them in an override of Gov. Bruce Rauner's veto of SB1.
“You haven’t offered changes to the bill," he says in a video of his House talk. "You haven’t offered to continue to work together on that bill. You’ve said, ‘We had 60 votes the first time; it barely got out of this chamber,’ and the only way you think you can get to 71 (votes needed for an override) is by bringing us to the very brink, not by working together in a good faith and bipartisan way.”
SB1 passed the Legislature two months ago but was not sent to Rauner until July 31. Rauner almost immediately used an amendatory veto to strip the bill of provisions to pay Chicago Public Schools' pensions.
Rep. Tom Demmer (R-Dixon)
The bill was sent back to the General Assembly. A veto override would require a three-fifths majority in both houses, which most reports suggested was unlikely.
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