State Lawmakers Spar Over Medicaid, School Transport Cuts
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WBBM) -- The people in charge of state government do not see eye-to-eye on how to get out of the crushing financial problems facing Illinois.
As WBBM Newsradio 780's Dave Dahl reports, at an appropriations hearing Tuesday, state Sen. Matt Murphy (R-Palatine) criticized Gov. Pat Quinn and his health care director, Julie Hamos, for relying on more borrowing to pay for Medicaid.
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But Hamos says Quinn's administration is proposing "to be able to pay all of our bills, and to get a fresh start, and really to think about this as restructuring the debt."
Hamos says she and Quinn already proposed making a 6 percent cut in Medicaid reimbursement by discontinuing the Illinois Cares prescription program.
Meanwhile, Quinn also wants to cut funding for local school transportation. But that idea is a loser when education advocate Erika Lindley does the math.
"Of our neighbors, Illinois has the most conservative requirement of 1.5 miles," Lindley said. "Most of our neighbors have at least 2, if not 3.5 miles away."
Overall, House K-12 appropriations chair Rep. Will Davis (D-Homewood) tells state Board of Education chief financial officer Linda Mitchell the odds of averting cuts aren't good.
"Your proposed budget is $7.6 billion… and I'm told that we're working with a dollar figure of about 6.8 (billion)," Davis said.
Legislators are off next week, with not quite six session weeks left to take action.
