Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner said Monday that there is “no good excuse” for major cuts to social service programs that have resulted from the budget impasse, blaming Democrats he said could have struck a deal but are content to cause chaos in an effort to force a tax increase.

The governor’s comments came just days after Lutheran Social Services of Illinois, the state’s largest social services agency, announced it would close 30 programs and cut 750 positions because it’s owed more than $6 million by the state.

“There is really no good excuse for the tragic loss of those kinds of services,” Rauner said at an unrelated event. “It’s inexcusable for us not to have a budget right now. We could have and should have done this many months ago.”

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Democrats counter that it’s Rauner who is holding the budget hostage as he pushes a pro-business, union-weakening political agenda. Rauner has indicated he would consider a tax increase only if lawmakers adopt his changes.

“We would ask him to understand that it’s not just the Democrats who are in charge of the budget in Illinois,” Senate President John Cullerton said Monday when asked at a City Club of Chicago luncheon about the social service funding problems. “He’s the governor. He’s in charge of it along with us, and we have to resolve it.”

The Lutheran agency plans to cut treatment for drug and alcohol addiction, housing for recently released prisoners and their families and a children’s shelter. Among those hit hardest are services for seniors, as federal Medicaid funds fall short of covering the state’s portion of the tab for programs, including home care. The agency had tried to make ends meet through donations and loans. However, it said cuts needed to be made not only because of the current funding shortfall but also the possibility of years of continued financial trouble for the state.

Meanwhile, another group announced Monday that it will no longer offer intervention services for runaways and at-risk youth in Englewood and West Englewood because of the budget impasse. Children’s Home + Aid plans to shut down the programs Feb. 15, meaning as many as 70 children will be diverted from lower-cost community-based programs to the state’s strained child welfare agency.

“The child welfare system is simply not equipped with enough hotline workers, investigators, case managers or foster homes to respond to an influx of adolescents,” Andrea Durbin, CEO of Illinois Collaboration on Youth, said in a statement. “The lives and safety of children and youth will be at risk.”

Rauner and Democrats who run the General Assembly are locked in a stalemate as the first-term governor pushes an agenda that would curb the rights of union workers, toughen standards for employees seeking compensation for injuries on the job, limit expensive payouts in civil lawsuits and freeze local property taxes.

Democrats have said Rauner’s political wish list would undermine the middle class for the benefit of corporate bosses. Rauner has countered that the short-term pain of operating without a budget is worth long-term economic benefits his agenda would bring.

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On Monday, Rauner returned to his argument that Democrats could raise taxes on their own to prop up the budget, but they are “afraid to look taxpayers in the eye and demand more.”

“If the majority party in the General Assembly thought that just raising taxes to fund those services, they could do it. They haven’t moved a finger to go do that,” Rauner said. “They are very comfortable not having a budget and letting those services go away. To me, that’s an outrage.”

Cullerton said Democrats won’t try to raise taxes on their own.

“There are not enough Democrats willing to do that,” Cullerton said. “We’re not going to have any tax increase unless Bruce Rauner agrees to it. And if he agrees to it, the amount of the increase is going to be up to him. So that requires compromise.”

For his part, Rauner has said he would be open to raising taxes, but only if his changes are adopted first.

Rep. Greg Harris, a Chicago Democrat who chairs the human services committee, said Rauner and Democratic leaders need to move past political rhetoric or the damage will be so bad that service groups may never fully recover.

“The state is seven months behind for services already rendered. I think they would be hesitant to move forward again unless they are sure there’s funding in place. And once they start to close, it’s hard to physically restart these programs again, not to mention the people who are left to fend for themselves in the meantime,” Harris said.

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