Days after vetoing a measure to help low-income college students, Governor Bruce Rauner signaled he's open to another way of making it happen.
Rauner's reason for rejecting the Democrats' funding plan was that it would have sent Illinois deeper into debt.
But Rauner -- a Republican -- has said he'd be OK with an alternate GOP approach -- because it's paired with money to back it up. The governor's doubling down on that notion.
He says he'd sign money for what are known as MAP grants --- if lawmakers loosen the rules under which government and universities make purchases.
"Let's do procurement reform. Pass a MAP grant bill. And let's fund our MAP grants right now. There's no reason we can't do that."
"To say ‘I'm going to trade that for funding for poor college students’ seems pretty raw, seems pretty raw."
Steve Brown is the spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan.
The governor also gave a nod to a new plan that would forward money to schools in the greatest need -- like Chicago State, Western and Eastern Illinois universities -- by diverting money from other programs.
