* From January of 2017…

In one of his strongest public shows of support for Donald Trump, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner joined 19 other Republican governors to support the president-elect’s controversial nominee for secretary of education.

Billionaire philanthropist Betsy DeVos is an “inspired choice,” Republican governors from 18 states and two U.S. territories wrote, saying she “will fight to streamline the federal education bureaucracy” and also is a “passionate supporter . . . of harnessing the power of competition to drive improvement in all K-12 schools, whether they be public, private or virtual.”

* AP weekend report…

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was campaigning against states regulating student-loan companies when she called her friend, Gov. Bruce Rauner, in August 2017.

Two weeks later, the Republican governor vetoed legislation creating protections for students taking out federal loans . In language that echoes President Donald Trump’s education chief in her continuing crusade against state intervention, Rauner, who’s considered one of the nation’s more vulnerable incumbents in November, declared in his veto message that the measure “encroaches on the federal government’s responsibilities.”

The Aug. 10, 2017, phone call, which appears on both officials’ appointment calendars reviewed by The Associated Press, underscores the interaction the first-term governor has with Trump while publicly trying to distance himself from a president who is hugely unpopular in Democratic Illinois.

Lawmakers reversed Rauner’s veto, with wide GOP support in the House on a pro-student education bill. The “Student Loan Bill of Rights,” which takes effect at the end of this year, requires companies that administer the programs to properly process payments, tell borrowers about debt forgiveness because of disability or problems with the schools they attended, and to provide experts to explain all repayment options. DeVos continues to oppose involvement from outside the federal government.

* From the Democratic Party of Illinois…

The AP wrote the call “underscores the interaction the first-term governor has with Trump while publicly trying to distance himself from a president who is hugely unpopular in Democratic Illinois.” And the call was not the only instance of cooperation - Rauner recently praised Trump’s selection of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, and vetoed a bill “to the dismay of health care advocates” that would have regulated short-term health insurance plans, among other actions detailed by the AP.

“Instead of looking out for Illinois families, Bruce Rauner is taking marching orders from the Trump White House and Betsy DeVos,” said DPI Executive Director Christian Mitchell. “Bruce Rauner already failed Illinois families by gutting higher education and making college more unaffordable. Now we know Rauner sided with Betsy DeVos and her special interest allies over hard working Illinois families struggling to pay down student loan debt. Illinoisans wanted Bruce Rauner to stand up to Donald Trump, not do his bidding.”

* Coincidentally or not, the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law issued a report last week entitled “Illinois Governor Rauner’s Vetoes Advance the Trump Administration’s Main Policy Goals”…

Unfortunately, this year Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner used his veto power to block bipartisan, negotiated bills that would have advanced justice for Illinois’s most vulnerable residents. In doing so, the governor advanced some of the main policy goals of the Trump Administration — undermining the foundations of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), denying immigrants basic legal protections, and curtailing voting rights of people of color. […]

Advancing the Trump Administration’s major goal of undoing the ACA, Governor Rauner struck down HB 2624, a bipartisan measure that would have limited the use of short-term health insurance policies to six months and made these plans non-renewable. Short-term health plans circumvent the ACA’s basic protections, including the requirement that insurance plans cover preexisting conditions. Oftentimes, people are duped into purchasing these plans and only realize their healthcare is not covered once they get sick or become injured. The Trump Administration has promoted the unrestricted use of these junk policies. HB 2624 would have also given the Illinois Department of Insurance authority to regulate short-term plans and would have required insurance companies to use easily understood language in promotional materials.

The Governor also vetoed HB 4165, which would have guaranteed members of the Illinois General Assembly — and the constituents they serve — access to a public process if any Illinois governor sought a waiver of federal law to reduce healthcare access and treatment. Governors throughout the country are using such waivers to deny healthcare coverage to patients with low income. Governor Rauner’s veto prevents members of the Illinois General Assembly from providing a necessary check and balance on a governor’s attempts to undermine healthcare. […]

Aligning himself with the dangerous anti-immigrant rhetoric and actions of the Trump Administration, Governor Rauner vetoed the Immigrant Tenant Protection Act, SB 3103. This legislation would have prevented landlords from intimidating, harassing, or retaliating against tenants based on their immigration status. For example, this measure would have prohibited landlords from threatening to disclose a tenant’s immigration status to avoid making needed repairs or otherwise escape their legal responsibilities. […]

Consistent with the Trump Administration’s refusal to enforce the voting rights of all Americans, Governor Rauner vetoed the Let People Vote bill, HB 4469. This bill would have required jails in Illinois to arrange in-person or absentee voting for pretrial detainees. It also would have ensured that corrections officials provide people leaving prison — after having served their sentences — with updated voter registration forms and other information about their right to vote.

…Adding… Tribune…

Illinois is getting 78 percent less federal money this year to hire Obamacare workers to help people enroll in health insurance plans, causing some advocates to worry that more Illinois residents will go without coverage.

The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is handing two Illinois organizations $389,216 this year, down from nearly $1.8 million distributed to five Illinois groups last year, the agency announced Wednesday. One of the largest groups that got grant money for navigators in the past, the United Way of Metro Chicago, won’t get any money this time around.

Pritzker campaign…

“Donald Trump is once again sabotaging the Affordable Care Act, cutting critical outreach dollars while less and less people get covered, and Bruce Rauner is once again his silent partner,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “Illinoisans deserve a governor who believes healthcare is a right, not a privilege — and JB Pritzker will be that governor and stand up to Trump when he attacks our state.”