Why did the BIMP go down?
Thursday, May 18, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sfondeles…
The budget bills came to a screeching halt because of no Republican support on a bill that would actually implement the budget, which included hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts. Republicans didn’t support the measure because they want to further negotiate on taxes. A revenue bill wasn’t called after that vote failed because the three — the spending plan, cuts and revenue — are intended to be passed together.
Senate Democrats on Wednesday night filed a motion to reconsider the bill that authorizes the budget.
* Sen. Daniel Biss on why he voted against the BIMP and the budget…
“Gov. Rauner expects lawmakers to give him unchecked freedom to overhaul the state’s Medicaid program that insures the poorest Illinois children and senior citizens, but he’s given us absolutely no reason to trust his judgment about what’s best for the people of Illinois.
“Gov. Rauner has refused to do his job and introduce a balanced budget and instead has claimed in public to support bipartisan Senate negotiations while secretly torpedoing that same work. We have no reason to trust him with carte blanche authority to destroy our safety net and punish the most vulnerable.
“I am not willing to give Gov. Rauner emergency rulemaking authority to implement Trumpcare in Illinois or cause undocumented children to lose coverage.
“In the meantime, Gov. Rauner is doing his best to dismantle the Community Care Program that tens of thousands of seniors rely on to live in dignity in their homes, and I cannot support a budget that facilitates his efforts to do just that.
“Our state urgently needs a budget, and I will continue to do all I can to move us toward a fair budget resolution that adequately funds our priorities. I stand ready to work with anyone toward that goal, and I am prepared to compromise.
“But I will not accept the premise that we must balance our budget on the backs of senior citizens and the poor.”
Subscribers know a bit more. The full roll call for SB 6 is here. The BIMP got 27 votes. Click here for the roll call and click here for the full text.
* Here’s where the cuts/reductions/transfers are. SB 6 is the approp bill. All numbers are in millions. From the Senate Democrats…
As you’ll recall from yesterday, the Senate Democrats put out a statement saying: “Our side of the aisle can’t, on its own, pass the list of cuts that Republicans brought to the table and we included.”
- Commonsense in Illinois - Thursday, May 18, 17 @ 10:01 am:
No will…No way.
- Eastside - Thursday, May 18, 17 @ 10:01 am:
SB 42 Rollc Call
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/votehistory/100/senate/10000SB0042_05172017_008000T.pdf
- Earnest - Thursday, May 18, 17 @ 10:08 am:
>Gov. Rauner has refused to do his job
A lot of text to read and one kernel of consistent, cohesive messaging.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, May 18, 17 @ 10:10 am:
===A lot of text to read===
While not taking a position on this particular release, I’ve seen this argument used way too much. It’s a press release. Reporters can pick what to use. I choose to post the whole thing. Your laziness is not his problem.
- PJ - Thursday, May 18, 17 @ 10:18 am:
Agreed, Rich.
If he wrote a doctoral thesis about the issue, you could argue that it’s too much and the message will be lost.
But I refuse to accept that the public isn’t capable of reading 8 sentences. Especially since those sentences actually provide useful context for his point.
- Anon414 - Thursday, May 18, 17 @ 10:21 am:
The BIMP phases out state funding for the retired teacher’s health fund, I’m sure senators were hearing from those folks.
- Arsenal - Thursday, May 18, 17 @ 10:28 am:
==While not taking a position on this particular release, I’ve seen this argument used way too much. It’s a press release. Reporters can pick what to use. I choose to post the whole thing. Your laziness is not his problem.==
Yeah! Again, passing on this particular press release, but they serve multiple functions, sometimes at the same time, especially in primaries. For one thing, Biss wants to establish himself as the smartest guy in the Resistance. I’m not sure this accomplishes that, but it’s a good reason to go further than “Bruce Rauner won’t do his job”. You can tweet that if that’s all you wanna say.
- Earnest - Thursday, May 18, 17 @ 10:29 am:
>Your laziness is not his problem.
I’m not lazy. I was trying to make the point that Rauner has continued to run rings around the democrats in terms of political messaging. I was looking for any signs that the democrats are starting to echo cohesive, consistent messaging. My criticism was the lack of talking points in terms of political strategy. If Pritzker’s going to a Rauner/Trump approach, include that. If the message is “do your job” include that. If the message is “failed governor,” include that. Things have got to repeat to break through the noise. Rauner sticks to consistent messaging and he has his legislators echo it to make it resonate.
- RNUG - Thursday, May 18, 17 @ 10:31 am:
== The BIMP phases out state funding for the retired teacher’s health fund, I’m sure senators were hearing from those folks. ==
After cutting the universities 10% across the board, it also shifts SURS health insurance from CMS / GRF to the local universities.
And it shorts the CAMS group health insurance even more than it has been shorted in the past.
Add in the Medicare cuts, the Senior cuts, etc. and this entire thing is mostly built on reducing health services.
No wonder both sides are having trouble voting for it!
- Joe M - Thursday, May 18, 17 @ 10:51 am:
==it also shifts SURS health insurance from CMS / GRF to the local universities.==
Perhaps that should read “also shifts CMS health insurance from CMS / GRF to the local universities.” The Universities are all part of the CMS health insurance plans, and have been for the 20 years I’ve been a university employee. There is no SURS health insurance plan. At one time SURS did some of the administrative duties of the SURS retirees’ health insurance, in conjunction with CMS, but that was taken over by the Canadian company, in conjunction with CMS.
- King Louis XVI - Thursday, May 18, 17 @ 10:57 am:
–Rauner sticks to consistent messaging and he has his legislators echo it to make it resonate.–
What has “consistent” yielded?
Rauner has a 58% disapproval rating.
Praying at the altar of “consistent” when the message is bad is foolish.
- wordslinger - Thursday, May 18, 17 @ 12:55 pm:
To borrow a phrase, I’m convinced now that the Senate GOP negotiations have been a sham to provide cover for Rauner.
As long as they’re “so close” and negotiating, Rauner can pretend to be above it all while the squeeze-the-beast destruction goes on. As always, though, Lucy will pull back the ball.
After two years, it’s clear that both GOP caucuses are securely under the thumb of the governor. They have a constituency of one, they are servants of the executive. They do not function as part of a separate branch of government.
No Illinois governor that I can think of ever had such complete control of his party’s legislators. The McCann experience obviously scared the daylights out of all of them for their phony-baloney jobs.
- Get real people. - Thursday, May 18, 17 @ 1:01 pm:
I’ve got it! Let’s send out tax bills to every Illinois household for the state pension amount for $54,000. Then send Tax Bills for the 13 billion in unpaid bills. Add the municipalities debt, add their pension shortfalls. Chicago’s shortfalls Problem solved! Does anyone know entirely how many billions these amounts added up, are? Then lets tack on a income tax: problem solved, everybody will get paid. This debt is not possible to pay back or tax out of people. We’re bankrupt. We’re Broke! Get real people. Doesn’t matter who created the debt it’s real.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 18, 17 @ 1:05 pm:
===Let’s send out tax bills to every Illinois household for the state pension amount for $54,000.===
When you want to argue like an adult…
There are a few clouds here in Oswego today if you want to come out here and yell at them to feel better…
- Former Merit Comp - Thursday, May 18, 17 @ 6:11 pm:
.RNUG great catch!