Harper: Illinois Needs an Honest Budget, and Rauner Needs to Negotiate

CHICAGO – State Rep. Sonya Harper, D-Chicago, is renewing her negotiation on a budget that does not burden Illinois taxpayers and does not rely on dishonest and unviable savings.

“The Senate budget is not the honest plan Illinois taxpayers need, and we aren’t going to get anywhere until the governor stops campaigning, stops dictating and starts negotiating,” Harper said. “All sides need to sit down and finalize an honest, balanced deal that cuts waste, protects critical services, generates new revenue without harming Illinois’s middle class.”

While some politicians want to push forward on an unbalanced Senate budget plan, Harper is calling for bipartisan negotiation on a more straightforward deal. The Senate plan does not close the Rauner budget deficit and caries a number phantom savings and other budgetary gimmicks that will cost taxpayers in the long run. The Senate proposal authorizes billions of dollars in new borrowing, but does not fulfill obligatory payments required to repay this debt. The proposal also relies on unforeseen savings from a pension bill that is not yet law and a proposed increase to state employee insurance premiums which has not been agreed to by employees themselves.

Harper is fighting to restore funding for life-saving programs like breast cancer screenings, services for the developmentally disabled and victims of domestic violence, that the Senate’s plan cuts millions of dollars from.

Harper also expressed concern that the Senate’s plan does not appropriate adequate early childhood education funds to meet federal guidelines, and fails to properly fund critical services necessary to help children achieve their full potential. Additionally, the Senate’s proposal contains only a portion of the funding needed to sustain MAP grants, which provides support for more than 130,000 Illinois students to attend college.

“The Senate’s plan just doesn’t cut it and needs to be revisited. What we need is the governor to come back to the table and negotiate a budget that all sides can agree to and that gives taxpayers a fair deal, instead of saddling them with more debt and taxes with no hope of paying for it,” said Harper. “It is time for the governor to stop playing political games and forcing everyday Illinoisans to suffer as a result of his budget hold up.”