Governor Rauner’s “State of the State” address offered nothing new as he urged lawmakers to come together to negotiate a balanced budget. He applauded efforts in the Senate attempting to do exactly that. The Governor stated we have a “moral obligation” to fix Illinois. His only reference to people with disabilities was, “Years of irresponsible borrowing and deficit spending have been devastating to human service organizations that assist children, senior citizens, people with behavioral health issues and disabilities, and our other most vulnerable residents.”
The Democratic responses were not quite so optimistic as Rep. Mitchell said about the Address, “Cuts to mental health, cuts to Medicaid, look a the savage cuts to higher education.”
The real priorities of the Governor will come in his Budget Address on February 15th at noon in the Capitol.
View the Governor’s State of the State Address here.
Story from the State Journal Register below.
Tony
Rauner says ‘don’t give up’ as Senate tests budget plan
By Doug Finke
State Capitol Bureau
Gov. Bruce Rauner went off script during his third State of the State speech Wednesday to praise Senate efforts to negotiate an end to the budget stalemate and urge them to keep at it until an agreement is reached.
Rauner made the statement even as those Senate efforts seemed to founder in the last couple of days, calling into question whether a “grand bargain” can be approved.
“I would personally like to thank the senators here today,” Rauner said near the end of his 35-minute speech. “Thank you for working so hard to try to come together on a bipartisan basis to find a compromise, to get a truly balanced budget with changes to the system to help job creators and protect taxpayers. We all know this is very, very difficult with a lot of arrows. Please don’t give up.”
He said the “people of Illinois need you to succeed.”
Tony Paulauski
Executive Director
The Arc of Illinois
20901 S. LaGrange Rd. Suite 209
Frankfort, IL 60423
815-464-1832 (OFFICE)
708-828-0188 (CELL)
Tony@thearcofil.org