Mulligan questions Quinn on human services cuts
Gov. Pat Quinn said Friday he would outline about $1 billion in cuts to state government operations next week as he continued talking with lawmakers about passing a balanced state budget.
Quinn, who met Friday with more than two dozen women lawmakers, didn't detail the cuts he would announce but said they would be "very deep."
Rep. Rosemary Mulligan, a Des Plaines Republican, was at the meeting held at the Thompson Center in Chicago. Her major concern had to do with recent cuts affecting human services agencies. This week hundreds of human services agencies all over the state scaled back their operations.
"I'm concerned most about cuts in day care, elder care and services for disabled people," Mulligan said. "My problem is that (Quinn) allowed directors of state agencies to get notices saying their contracts were cut in half. I don't think this budget was very well thought out when it comes to who is taking the hits."
In addition, the pending budget wasn't the only topic of conversation on Friday, Mulligan said.
"There is a general feeling that the economy isn't picking up, and people are worried," she said. "Everyone at the meeting was concerned, but we were able to talk about everything in a pretty rational manner."
The state's new fiscal year started Wednesday without a spending plan in place because the Democratic governor and lawmakers have yet to agree on how to wipe out an $11.6 billion deficit Quinn says has been trimmed to $9.2 billion.
Nobody in state government would be immune, even people who are "some of the mightiest of our mighty in Illinois," Quinn said.
"They are not going to stand on the sidelines and cut the budgets of very vulnerable human beings while they don't participate in the shared sacrifice," he said.
Quinn didn't indicate whom he was talking about, and spokeswoman Katie Ridgway said only that he meant state government in general. Still, he has been critical of lawmakers for sending him a makeshift budget, which he later vetoed, that would have forced deep cuts in social service programs.
"I don't want to see some in state government who have two loaves of bread under each arm, they are well taken care of, while our neighbors who are doing good work ... their budget is cut to next to nothing," he said.
The governor wants to temporarily raise state income taxes to lessen Illinois' money crunch, but many lawmakers have so far balked at the idea.
State government will continue to operate even without a budget, at least for now.
Lawmakers who met Friday with Quinn said they were there to get more information because different numbers for the size of the deficit have been thrown around.
"We're trying to get, as legislators, the numbers so that we can make sure ... that we're all working off the same page," Democratic state Rep. Lisa Dugan said.
•Daily Herald news services contributed to this report.