Community Leaders Demand that Rauner Pass a Responsible and Fair Budget to Avoid a Government Shutdown

Chicago – Seniors joined community leaders and working families at a rally today at the State of Illinois Thompson Center to call on Gov. Bruce Rauner to pass a “fair and responsible budget” to protect vital home care services for seniors and adults with disabilities.

Advocates held signs and chanted “Rauner’s Cuts Hurt Seniors” as they unveiled “senior survival kits” to highlight the risks to seniors from falling and being left without their home care provider.  If Rauner refuses to sign the state’s budget by July 1^st it will cause the state government to shutdown which will cause enormous hardships for working families all across Illinois, including seniors.   Seniors and community leaders called on Gov. Rauner to approve the state budget on his desk and to work constructively with legislative leaders to raise new revenue to protect and expand vital programs, such the Community Care Program for seniors and Medicaid assistance for low-income families.

Erika Martin, a nursing home worker in Joliet, said, “It is unfathomable that seniors, adults with disabilities, patients and low-income families should have to be the ones to suffer because of Gov. Rauner’s extreme political agenda.  Gov. Rauner is choosing to hold vulnerable families hostage over his budget demands and is now threatening a government shutdown unless he gets his way.  This isn’t leadership. It’s cruelty – it’s bullying.”

At the beginning of the legislative session this year, Gov. Rauner proposed slashing $230 million from nursing homes and another $735 million in cuts to community hospitals that mostly serve low-income families on Medicaid.  These extreme cuts would dramatically hurt quality care for nursing home residents and hospital patients, exacerbate short staffing levels, and continue poverty wages for healthcare and nursing home workers among cutbacks to other vital programs.

Dottie Giles who is 83-years-old and lives in a senior independent living facility and a member of the Illinois Alliance for Retired Americans said, “It is shameful that the Governor wants to make it much harder for seniors to get access to home care assistance.  And speaking for myself, I don’t have any children or relatives in Chicago, so if I were to need help I would need a home care provider.  But how will I be able to live independently under Gov. Rauner’s budget?  We should be strengthening our home care program for seniors by telling the rich to pay their fair share – not cutting vita programs.”

Faith leaders also joined today’s rally and protest. Pastor Drew Rindfleisch of San Lucas United Church of Christ said, “Governor Rauner’s budget cuts are callous and immoral.  The people of Illinois deserve a fair budget so that our state can continue to deliver life-saving, essential services in our communities.   At an economic time like this, Rauner and state legislators should be investing in public services; not making the poor poorer, and the sick more vulnerable.”

Home care provider Yvette Anderson of Lynwood worried for the safety of the two seniors for whom she cares, including one who suffers from Alzheimer’s Disease: “These severe cuts will cause enormous hardship for the sick and financial ruin for their families.”