The following statement was released by SEIU President Keith Kelleher in response to Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s lawsuit seeking to overturn a court injunction that allows state workers to be paid during the budget impasse:

“On behalf of our home healthcare and child care workers who have collective bargaining agreements with the State of Illinois and provide vital care for 30,000 people with disabilities and 61,000 children, we obviously oppose any efforts to stop payments or efforts that delay payments to our workforce, who struggle to get by as it is. But we all know how we got here–because of a governor who ran on shutting down government.

“Bruce Rauner NEVER will know the real pain that is endured by those he causes to suffer. But he has welcomed it in a shameful fashion by abandoning his constitutional duty to present a balanced budget to the General Assembly. Instead he has held Illinois hostage to his political wish list. The Attorney General’s action is a symptom. This governor is its cause.

“We call on Rauner to present a budget that funds vital services for the most vulnerable in our state.”

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