very good article from the Chicago Tribune, by Kim Geiger | March 16, 2015
As Illinois Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner tries to win approval for a state budget with severe spending cuts, Senate Democrats have emerged as the loudest opponents, holding news conferences and committee hearings to denounce the governor's proposals as "unworkable" and "unconscionable."
The latest front in that effort unfolded Monday, when lawmakers grilled Rauner's newly appointed social services chief at a Chicago hearing packed with low-income parents, people with disabilities and senior citizens who said they rely on the services that Rauner plans to cut back.
One by one, the Democratic senators questioned Gregory Bassi, acting secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services, which under Rauner's proposed budget would lose an estimated $424 million come July 1.
"When you decide to cut a program (or) you decide to reduce funding, it's one thing when you see it on paper," Sen. Michael Hastings, D-Tinley Park, said as he capped off a tense back-and-forth with Bassi. "But when you look behind you and you come to the suburbs and you see what it's like on the ground, you may think differently about these cuts."
Dozens of people who filled the hearing room were on hand to drive home that point: A eighth-grade student who gave a rave review of her after-school program, a day care provider who begged against cuts to subsidized services, a man using a wheelchair who worried about losing the assistance he said keeps him out of a nursing home.
Many of those who were set to talk at the hearing were made available to reporters beforehand. It's a time-tested way for social service groups to push back against proposed budget cuts — putting a human face on what otherwise could remain slices on a budget pie chart. Such groups generally don't have the campaign cash to get lawmakers' attention like other interest groups at the Capitol.
Democratic Senate President John Cullerton tried a version of that last week when he addressed a different crowd at a luncheon hosted by the City Club of Chicago.
"Gov. Rauner sees the budget as merely a math problem. I see the people behind those numbers, people struggling to get ahead," Cullerton said before attempting to play a video featuring a young woman who had benefited from a state scholarship program. But Cullerton's plan to pepper his speech with similar videos — to illustrate his point that Rauner's budget is "as unworkable as it is unconscionable" — was foiled by a technical glitch.
Cullerton has been on the opposite side of Rauner and Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, who both said last month that a deal was close on fixing a $1.6 billion shortfall in the current budget passed under former Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn. Talks stalled in the weeks since, and Cullerton's staff indicated a reluctance among the more liberal Senate Democratic caucus to give the governor broad authority to make cuts. Instead, Senate Democrats tooled up their own version that would give Rauner more narrow authority, which Republicans dismissed as a political stunt.
That tension surfaced at Monday's hearing, with Republican Sen. Matt Murphy of Palatine becoming visibly frustrated after Bassi faced tough questioning over this year's still-unsolved budget woes.
Boyd said she had worked for nearly 30 years, climbing the ranks to become a supervisor at a state agency office in Maywood. But then she was diagnosed with lupus, was unable to work, had personal difficulties and eventually lost her home.
"I had worked all my life, had this 'American Dream' that you're supposed to have, then got sick and the bottom fell out of my world," said Boyd, who added that the organization taught her about personal finances and helped her get dental care.
"That all, combined together, helped me get my self-esteem back, and make me feel like I was contributing and not just one of the numbers of a homeless person," said Boyd, who is now on the board of the organization that stands to lose $250,000 in state assistance under Rauner's plan. "I actually mattered again. And that meant a lot to me."
Audrey Thomas, the group's CEO, said Deborah's Place could shift money around and turn to private funders to fill the hole. Still, she said, if the cuts go through, the organization might have to cut services and lay off as many as seven people.
For Jimmie Yarbrough, the proposed cuts feel like a matter of "life or death."
Yarbrough has a degenerative spinal condition that he said limits his ability to perform simple tasks like cooking, cleaning and shopping for groceries. After a number of years in a nursing home, Yarbrough signed up for a state-funded home services program that he said allowed him to move into an apartment of his own. Instead of 24-hour nursing home staff, the program pays for two workers to check in on Yarbrough for a couple of hours each day.
"I get so much help from my personal assistant people that it helps me maintain independent living," said Yarbrough, who uses a wheelchair.
Under Rauner's proposed budget, an estimated 10,000 people could be cut from the program, according to Access Living, which advocates for people with disabilities. The cuts would be applied based on what's known as a determination need score. Currently, people with a score of at least 29 are eligible for the in-home assistance. Under Rauner's budget, that score rises to 37. Yarbrough, whose score is 33, would be cut off.
Access Living CEO Marca Bristo called the change "arbitrary" and said the cuts would fall on people who "are least likely to ask for help and the most likely to die should their services end, not to mention being forced into a nursing home or going to jail or becoming homeless."
It was against that backdrop that Bassi had to field questions about the wisdom of the governor's proposed budget.
"We are obligated to our customers and the people of this state to operate within a realistic, balanced budget," Bassi told the panel. "This is a difficult time and a difficult budget. As a result, difficult decisions must be made."
As Illinois Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner tries to win approval for a state budget with severe spending cuts, Senate Democrats have emerged as the loudest opponents, holding news conferences and committee hearings to denounce the governor's proposals as "unworkable" and "unconscionable."
The latest front in that effort unfolded Monday, when lawmakers grilled Rauner's newly appointed social services chief at a Chicago hearing packed with low-income parents, people with disabilities and senior citizens who said they rely on the services that Rauner plans to cut back.
One by one, the Democratic senators questioned Gregory Bassi, acting secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services, which under Rauner's proposed budget would lose an estimated $424 million come July 1.
"When you decide to cut a program (or) you decide to reduce funding, it's one thing when you see it on paper," Sen. Michael Hastings, D-Tinley Park, said as he capped off a tense back-and-forth with Bassi. "But when you look behind you and you come to the suburbs and you see what it's like on the ground, you may think differently about these cuts."
Dozens of people who filled the hearing room were on hand to drive home that point: A eighth-grade student who gave a rave review of her after-school program, a day care provider who begged against cuts to subsidized services, a man using a wheelchair who worried about losing the assistance he said keeps him out of a nursing home.
Many of those who were set to talk at the hearing were made available to reporters beforehand. It's a time-tested way for social service groups to push back against proposed budget cuts — putting a human face on what otherwise could remain slices on a budget pie chart. Such groups generally don't have the campaign cash to get lawmakers' attention like other interest groups at the Capitol.
Democratic Senate President John Cullerton tried a version of that last week when he addressed a different crowd at a luncheon hosted by the City Club of Chicago.
"Gov. Rauner sees the budget as merely a math problem. I see the people behind those numbers, people struggling to get ahead," Cullerton said before attempting to play a video featuring a young woman who had benefited from a state scholarship program. But Cullerton's plan to pepper his speech with similar videos — to illustrate his point that Rauner's budget is "as unworkable as it is unconscionable" — was foiled by a technical glitch.
Cullerton has been on the opposite side of Rauner and Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, who both said last month that a deal was close on fixing a $1.6 billion shortfall in the current budget passed under former Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn. Talks stalled in the weeks since, and Cullerton's staff indicated a reluctance among the more liberal Senate Democratic caucus to give the governor broad authority to make cuts. Instead, Senate Democrats tooled up their own version that would give Rauner more narrow authority, which Republicans dismissed as a political stunt.
That tension surfaced at Monday's hearing, with Republican Sen. Matt Murphy of Palatine becoming visibly frustrated after Bassi faced tough questioning over this year's still-unsolved budget woes.
Boyd said she had worked for nearly 30 years, climbing the ranks to become a supervisor at a state agency office in Maywood. But then she was diagnosed with lupus, was unable to work, had personal difficulties and eventually lost her home.
"I had worked all my life, had this 'American Dream' that you're supposed to have, then got sick and the bottom fell out of my world," said Boyd, who added that the organization taught her about personal finances and helped her get dental care.
"That all, combined together, helped me get my self-esteem back, and make me feel like I was contributing and not just one of the numbers of a homeless person," said Boyd, who is now on the board of the organization that stands to lose $250,000 in state assistance under Rauner's plan. "I actually mattered again. And that meant a lot to me."
Audrey Thomas, the group's CEO, said Deborah's Place could shift money around and turn to private funders to fill the hole. Still, she said, if the cuts go through, the organization might have to cut services and lay off as many as seven people.
For Jimmie Yarbrough, the proposed cuts feel like a matter of "life or death."
Yarbrough has a degenerative spinal condition that he said limits his ability to perform simple tasks like cooking, cleaning and shopping for groceries. After a number of years in a nursing home, Yarbrough signed up for a state-funded home services program that he said allowed him to move into an apartment of his own. Instead of 24-hour nursing home staff, the program pays for two workers to check in on Yarbrough for a couple of hours each day.
"I get so much help from my personal assistant people that it helps me maintain independent living," said Yarbrough, who uses a wheelchair.
Under Rauner's proposed budget, an estimated 10,000 people could be cut from the program, according to Access Living, which advocates for people with disabilities. The cuts would be applied based on what's known as a determination need score. Currently, people with a score of at least 29 are eligible for the in-home assistance. Under Rauner's budget, that score rises to 37. Yarbrough, whose score is 33, would be cut off.
Access Living CEO Marca Bristo called the change "arbitrary" and said the cuts would fall on people who "are least likely to ask for help and the most likely to die should their services end, not to mention being forced into a nursing home or going to jail or becoming homeless."
It was against that backdrop that Bassi had to field questions about the wisdom of the governor's proposed budget.
"We are obligated to our customers and the people of this state to operate within a realistic, balanced budget," Bassi told the panel. "This is a difficult time and a difficult budget. As a result, difficult decisions must be made."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-illinois-budget-democrats-met-20150316-story.html#page=1
Please contact your legislators directly about your concerns with the state budget. Please share how the State Budget Cuts WILL effect your life, and others you know. Ask others to call their state legislators also. To find out who is your State Legislator: CLICK HERE.
Please contact your legislators directly about your concerns with the state budget. Please share how the State Budget Cuts WILL effect your life, and others you know. Ask others to call their state legislators also. To find out who is your State Legislator: CLICK HERE.
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