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* Mark Brown write about how the construction of the new Illinois Veterans Home in Chicago was halted at the end of the fiscal year…
What’s really irritating in this instance is that the people who are getting hurt are the veterans who need this type of specialized housing, especially those who would benefit from the facility’s promised 44 beds for individuals suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia.
The state already operates four homes for veterans, but the closest one is located in Manteno, a distance from where most of the state’s aging veteran population lives in Chicago. The facilities operate much as skilled nursing homes with specialized programming for veterans.
Sen. John Mulroe (D-Chicago), whose district includes the Veterans Home site, said continuing the project requires legislation to re-appropriate money earmarked for the project in prior years but left unspent.
Mulroe said Democrats haven’t offered such a bill because of the expectation Rauner would just veto it.
Rauner’s staff counters that the governor included the Veterans Home project in his original proposed 2016 budget while Democrats did not. If Democrats had included it in a limited capital appropriation bill that the governor signed in June, the project would have been funded and continued on schedule, they contend.
This is a similar fight to what’s taking place over the stalled flood plain home buyout program. The governor put the reappropriations in his budget, but the Democrats didn’t include it in their own reapprop bill, which the governor signed.
* From the Illinois Republican Party…
The money for the Olive Branch relocation project was included in the Governor’s proposed budget in two separate bills: SB 2024 and HB 2913. Neither of those bills were called in a committee hearing in the House or Senate. Why? Because they proposed cutting wasteful government spending so we could afford projects like Olive Branch. Mike Madigan and the Chicago machine didn’t like that very much — they wanted billions more in wasteful spending at the expense of Southern Illinois projects like Olive Branch. That’s why money for this project was not included in the Madigan-Phelps out-of-balance budget that was passed by the General Assembly — they intentionally left out Olive Branch from the capital appropriations bill, HB 4166. Rep. Phelps voted yes on the Madigan-Phelps budget and capital bill – both of which excluded the funding for Olive Branch.
Statement from Nick Klitzing, Executive Director of the Illinois Republican Party: “Today, as Rep. Brandon Phelps claims to be in favor of releasing funding for the Olive Branch relocation project, Southern Illinois voters should understand Phelps’ hypocrisy. Phelps had an opportunity to vote for the funding, but he chose to stand with Mike Madigan. Phelps claims to represent Southern Illinois, but time and time again, he has shown that he represents his Chicago boss Mike Madigan.”
Thoughts?
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 9:37 am
Sorry, comments are closed at this time.
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Infuriating.
– MrJM
Comment by @MisterJayEm Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 9:45 am
Sorry, but we have no governor that would step in and ensure that this can be fixed for the people of Illinois.
We have Rauner instead.
Campaigns are for partisan arguments and excuses. Governing is when those arguments and excuses need to end so that Illinois can benefit from having a function government. A governor who will not govern, but prefer campaigning on partisan excuses and charges, is not governing.
Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 9:47 am
You know, if you just changed the names and kept everything else the same, the Illinois Democratic Party could release it as their press release and everyone would be happy.
Perhaps I chose the wrong career. I could do a good job being a political spokesman, pulling sheer nonsense out of thin air and spinning it so that it appeals to the emotions of my supporters.
Oh yea, chap shot on Rep Phelps guys.
Comment by train111 Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 9:47 am
Sounds like some executive leadership is in order.
All these vets have is “short-term pain.” They ain’t going to be around for the “long-term pain.”
Just get to work, already.
Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 9:47 am
In the spirit of advancing the ball, could we all just stipulate that Gov. Rauner and his administration have not been responsible or at fault for anything that has happened on Planet Earth up to this moment?
With that out of the way, that should free up about 90% of their work day.
Now, they can actually get to work on doing the job they were elected to, and still have time to send out tweets on where the governor had breakfast.
Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 9:56 am
===The governor put the reappropriations in his budget, but the Democrats didn’t include it in their own reapprop bill, which the governor signed.====
Wasn’t the Dem’s bill an agreed & negotiated legislation? And Rauners, not so much?
Comment by Been There Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 10:13 am
HB2913- 237 pages
HB4166- 75 pages
Were parts of the proposed HB2913 broken out into other bills during the session(s)? Is it a true statement that the Olive Branch buyouts were never part of a reapprop bill this past year? I find that very hard to believe.
Comment by Anon221 Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 10:37 am
“Why? Because [the bills] proposed cutting wasteful government spending . . .”
Translation: Poison pills.
Comment by Skeptic Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 10:54 am
Was this project in the budget bills Rauner vetoed?
Comment by Precinct Captain Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 11:07 am
How many vets will malinger in sub-standard housing in the final days of their lives because of this? But it should not surprise us — remember:
“He comes from (being an) entrepreneur where you buy a business, you tear it apart and you sell it,” former Gov. Jim Edgar … Edgar accused Rauner of holding the state’s budget “hostage.”
Former Gov. Thompson, who served a record four terms, told the Arlington Heights Daily Herald last week that the situation now was “the worst position the state of Illinois has ever been in,” …
Comment by Handle Bar Mustache Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 11:28 am
Rauner showed in his operation of nursing home chains how much he cares about actual outcomes.
Comment by Albany Park Patriot Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 11:35 am
From the IL OMB report (1-6-16) “Enacting all or a significant part of the Governor’s Turnaround Agenda, improving the economy and balancing the budget for the long term is the Rauner Administration’s top fiscal and policy objective (NOTE- singular for word objective). With progress in the Turnaround Agenda that would ensure our State’s future, the Governor is willing to partner with legislators to increase revenues and responsibly limit spending.”
http://www.illinois.gov/gov/budget/Documents/Economic%20and%20Fiscal%20Policy%20Reports/FY%202016/Economic_and_Fiscal_Policy_Report_January_2016.pdf
Three Year Fiscal Outlook (some insight into what’s coming in the Budget Address???)
http://www.illinois.gov/gov/budget/Documents/Economic%20and%20Fiscal%20Policy%20Reports/FY%202016/3_Year_Budget_Forecast_FY16_to_FY19_January_2016.pdf
Comment by Anon221 Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 11:40 am