Republican governors Charlie Baker of Massachusetts, John Kasich of Ohio and Brian Sandoval of Nevada last month sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., saying the plan would hurt their states. Arizona’s Republican Gov. Doug Ducey said last week the bill “needs a lot of work.”
At the nation’s meeting of governors this month in Providence, Rhode Island, Democratic governors spoke out as well. Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo said the bill would almost certainly cause job losses at her state’s hospitals and other health care facilities.
In March, Rauner said he was worried Illinois won’t do very well under a health care plan that later passed the U.S. House. But Rauner is far from the front lines in this battle, which has huge implications for our state. […]
We need to hear Rauner’s voice among those of governors who are passionately and publicly trying to protect their states.
Um, boy. Um, Craig [Dellimore], you know my comments. I’ve expressed my concern about the changes being proposed to the Affordable Care Act and their negative impact on our most vulnerable residents, both in the expanded Medicaid population in Illinois, it’s like about 650,000, as well as the many hundreds of thousands in the standard Medicaid program. I’m very concerned about it and I’ve expressed that these changes could be very damaging and I’ve said it publicly and I’ve expressed those concerns to various members of Congress as well as to the administration.
* The DGA was not amused…
While signing Charlie’s law [yesterday], Bruce Rauner was asked about his near complete silence on Republican efforts to pass Trumpcare. In response, Rauner claimed he spoke up about Medicaid provisions – “These changes can be very damaging and I’ve said it publicly, and I’ve expressed those concerns to Members of Congress, as well as to the Administration.”
To which there is only one proper follow-up – seriously?
Faced with the politically inconvenient prospect of speaking out forcefully about legislation coming from his own party, Bruce Rauner has literally hid from reporters’ questions on Trumpcare. Here’s a smattering of newspaper clips since the last time Rauner spoke about the efforts:
Crain’s Chicago’s Greg Hinz: “I’ve now tried for a good two months to get the Rauner folks to detail the economic impact to the budget of what’s being discussed. No answer. I’ve asked them if, like Walker, he’s open to some of those waivers on pre-existing conditions and other matters. No answer. I’ve asked them what the governor wants and doesn’t want in the legislation. No answer.”
Chicago Sun-Times: “The Senate bill is as mean-spirited as the House bill. Illinois would get hammered even harder. And Gov. Bruce Rauner is still AWOL.”
The LAST time Rauner spoke on Trumpcare, he mentioned that he would work with Governors while the bill moved into the Senate. Well, in the past few months, two letters from a bipartisan group of Governors were made public expressing their opposition the Senate’s actions on health care. Rauner’s name was not on those letters. And four letters were sent by Illinois’ Senators asking for guidance from Rauner. He responded to none.
And Rauner has not answered the easiest question of all – “Do you support the measure?”
“Bruce Rauner has totally and completely abdicated his responsibilities to the residents of Illinois by hiding during the Trumpcare debate,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro. “While governors from both parties have spoken out against Trumpcare, Rauner’s been silent the whole time. Bruce Rauner’s failed leadership is putting the health and prosperity of middle-class families at risk to avoid taking a politically difficult position.”
…Adding… Pritzker campaign…
After Trumpcare appeared all but dead yesterday, Bruce Rauner decided it was finally time to show “leadership” and comment on the bill. In response, JB Pritzker released the following statement:
“While Republican and Democratic governors have joined forces to fight against Trumpcare, Bruce Rauner has cowardly sat on the sidelines and left the healthcare of millions of Illinoisans unprotected,” said JB Pritzker. “For Rauner to speak out now is an insult to Illinois families and community leaders across the state who have worked tirelessly to oppose this bill, which would have a detrimental impact on our state. Rauner’s ‘concerns’ are too little much too late and evidence of a politician who cares more about playing politics than governing. This isn’t leadership, this is cowardice.”
Now while we had this ridiculous budget fight for the last two years, I said, well if you guys can’t make the cuts necessary to balance the budget and all you guys want to do is raise taxes, I’m not going to support a tax hike, get some reforms that help on workers’ comp and business regulations. But if you’re going to waste a lot of time fighting about that and at minimum, let’s get a capital bill done, let’s do that before all this other stuff. I advocated that two years ago, I advocated that last year. They said no. They didn’t want to do that. They were holding, frankly, holding you guys hostage. Just like they held our schools hostage and our universities and our human services hostage. And it makes me, I won’t use the language I normally use because there’s a camera here, but it makes me very frustrated. It’s ridiculous.
For two years, our universities and our community colleges were held hostage. Our social services were held hostage. And our government agencies and our government workers and our transportation investments were held hostage. This was wrong. And the tragedy is that not only did they jam through a massive tax hike, permanent tax hike, which I was adamantly opposed to, they did it through extorting the pressure. But they didn’t even produce a balanced budget as a result. They cut no wasteful spending. None. And we’re still, we’re still out of balance. And they didn’t allocate any money to pay down debt. None.
And they cut investment in our IT systems, ’cause I was using our IT investments to drive down the cost of government by holding these agencies accountable for productivity and measure results. But they don’t want to measure results. That can actually cut costs, they don’t want that. They don’t want their buddies inside the government to be under pressure to perform and provide you better value for your taxes.
On Monday, Bruce Rauner traveled the state and made empty promises to school administrators, parents, and students. With a taxpayer-funded camera crew in tow, Rauner told the media that his version of the school funding formula would send more money to every school district in the state, except for one, of course.
There’s a problem with Rauner’s statement though. Just two weeks ago, Rauner vetoed a state budget that appropriated funds to our K-12 education system. So, Rauner’s school funding would have looked more like this:
Vetoing the budget means Rauner provided exactly zero dollars to schools across the state.
“Bruce Rauner’s arguments are a sham designed to distract from the fact that he vetoed legislation to fund our schools and continues to hold Illinois children and families hostage,” said Pritzker campaign spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh. “Instead of lurching to his next crisis with his new radical and amateur crew in tow, Rauner should sign SB 1 and finally give Illinois families the stability they deserve.”
A group that ran ads during the late stages of Illinois’ budget impasse is going back on TV for three days to urge Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner to support a Democratic plan to pay for the state’s public schools.
The group is Do Your Job Inc., which is led by state Sen. Michael Hastings, D-Tinley Park; state Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie; and Illinois AFL-CIO President Michael T. Carrigan.
A significant problem remains with the budget plan enacted by lawmakers earlier this month over Rauner’s veto — namely a new method to distribute state public school funding. Without approval of a new funding formula, schools don’t get any state money. Democrats have passed legislation to change the distribution method, but it gives more money to Chicago Public Schools than a Republican alternative.
Democrats have withheld sending the bill to Rauner because he has vowed to use his veto powers to rewrite it, contending the money for CPS is a “bailout.” That ratchets up pressure as the opening date for schools gets nearer. […]
The tax-exempt group said it has purchased $118,000 of TV time on broadcast and cable markets across the state to air the ad from Wednesday through Friday evening.
90 percent. That’s how much of the school funding bill that Gov. Rauner agrees with. So why in the world would he threaten to veto it?
Because Rauner won’t budge on his extreme agenda. He digs in, no matter the cost.
Republicans and Democrats had to go over his head to fix Rauner’s budget crisis. And now, he’s after our schools. Without the money, some won’t reopen this fall. Other schools may close their doors by Thanksgiving.
Someone’s got a sense of humor about Republicans helping to override Governor Rauner’s budget veto last week. An anonymous person has set up a Facebook page identifying himself as the “Angry Illinoisan.”
One of Angry Illinoisan’s creations is an adaptation of a “Back to the Future” clip. It features Governor Rauner, some of the ten Republicans that betrayed the governor with State Rep. Steve Andersson at the wheel, and several Republican onlookers that chose to stay firm and reject Mike Madigan’s budget.