Late Wednesday night the General Assembly passed a budget that will still mean devastating cuts to human services and even greater uncertainty for the future of vital services in Illinois.
Rather than passing a permanent revenue stream in the form of a tax increase, lawmakers settled for a borrowing plan that will keep the state from shutting down for 5 months–then they’ll have to come up with a new plan to stop a meltdown and cuts even more decimating to Illinois’ safety net than those already proposed.
As SEIU Healthcare Illinois & Indiana President Keith Kelleher said shortly after the final vote:
“Instead of doing what needed to be done to protect vital services, lawmakers passed a dangerous budget that relies on borrowing billions of dollars and deep cuts to keep the state from shutting down. Tens of thousands of jobs and vital services have already been lost and the lives of tens of thousands of Illinois seniors, people with disabilities and children are still in serious jeopardy because our elected officials failed to find a long-term solution. In the weeks ahead, Illinois families are counting on their elected officials to take leadership in this crisis and do the responsible thing by passing a fair revenue plan that protects vital programs from devastating cuts once and for all.”
Springfield’s WAND has more:
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