CHICAGO —  U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has proposed that states like Illinois could file for bankruptcy to get out from under heavy public employee pension debt.

On Wednesday Illinois Governor . J.B. Pritzker rejected that idea.

McConnell, a Republican, said that he was reluctant to provided additional aid to state and local governments to cope with reduced revenue because of the pandemic.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said federal dollars for state and local governments should be part of a coronavirus relief package. The GOP led by McConnell beat back Democratic effort to have the aid in the latest package.

Illinois has $138 billion in unfunded public employee pension debt. Under the the U.S. Constitution states are prevented from filing bankruptcy.

Illinois’ constitution has a pension protection clause that treats pension benefits as a contract.

 

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