After two years, Illinois finally has a budget. The General Assembly overrode Gov. Bruce Rauner's veto July 6 after a protracted session to prevent, among other consequences, Illinois bonds being reduced to "junk" status. Numerous organizations and politicians issued statements in response.
AIDS Foundation of Chicago ( AFC ), which played a large part in organizing a coalition to advocate for a responsible budget, responded approvingly to the legislation's passage.
"We have worked for three years to ensure that Illinois has a responsible budget that generates revenue and supports residents across the state," said President and CEO John Peller. "Stop-gap spending plans or other Band-Aid solutions have been unacceptable. An untold number of Illinoisans have died or suffered preventable health crises in the meanwhile because of a lack of funding for essential services."
The new budget restores HIV/AIDS funding to 2015 levels, which amounts to about $25.4 million for testing, treatment and education. As the budget crisis played out, numerous service-providers had to scale back or close outright. AFC said in May that the impasse resulted in a significant decrease in the detection of new HIV infections for Illinoisans.
"It is incredibly hard to vote to increase taxes, but it was the only responsible choice for moving our state forward," said Ramon Gardenhire, vice president of Policy and Advocacy at AFC. "We thank them for this act of political courage."
Rauner's challengers in the 2018 election blasted the governor for his budget veto and accused him of grandstanding.
"Rauner led the state to $14.7 billion in unpaid bills, interest on state debt continues to skyrocket, and local governments across the state have been forced to raise taxes to compensate for a lack of state funds," said businessman J.B. Pritzker. "…It will take years to clean up the mess of this failed governor's creating and it's clear that getting our state back on track can only happen with a new governor next November."
Businessman Christopher Kennedy said, "Other states don't need to threaten the future of their institutions in order to create a balanced budget. It doesn't have to be this way. We can have a balanced budget. We can honor the contracts of our pensions and we can invest in our economy and see it grow. But, we need to give our state a budget and a government that's free of corruption, that's free of self-dealing, that's free of self-interest. If we do that we can turn this state around."
State Sen. Daniel Biss ( D-Evanston ) said, "We need to build on this collaboration and come together to create real progress by making the rich pay their fair share to fund our schools, protect people's health care, and get our economy moving."
Ald. Ameya Pawar ( 47th ) said, "While Bruce Rauner's reckless veto made clear he doesn't care about the future of our state, today's bi-partisan veto-override proves there are legislators still willing to put Illinois' hard-working families over reckless partisan politics."
"The term 'balanced budget' is becoming a ubiquitous political talking point, but the term 'balanced budget' isn't just political rhetoric—it's a real thing, and means that expenditures cannot exceed revenues," said state Rep. Ann Williams ( D-Chicago ). "It means if we want to spend money, we need to raise revenue. Governor Rauner's budget proposed $37.3 [billion] in spending, but included no correlating revenue increase. In other words, he proposed a budget but has no way to pay for it. The bipartisan plan, in contrast, spends over a billion less than the Governor's, and $3 [billion] less than if we continued with no budget in place. And it is fully funded. It's a balanced budget."
