 With a little more than
four months left in the current fiscal 2011
budget, the Governor's Office of Management and Budget is
considering cutting $70 million to $100 million from the child care
budget, according to advocate Maria Whalen.Whalen is the
president and CEO of Illinois Action for Children, an organization
that "focuses on supporting and improving lives for working families
and their children."
"As we look at the budget hole that exists right now, every
single dime of the solution is coming out of the Department of Human
Services," Whalen said. "And this means further cuts to
developmental disabled, to the poorest of the poor, to basic human
service needs, and of course it means drastic cuts to the child care
program in our state. And I think that it's pretty amazing that when
we look to make these terrible choices, we look first at those who
have the least."
But a spokeswoman for the Governor's Office of Management and
Budget says the proposed cuts aren't new -- they are simply part of
the current year's budget process.
The Illinois Department of Human Services is continuing to
implement reductions that were made by the governor and the last
General Assembly in the current year's appropriations, according to
Kelly Kraft.
Those words were of little comfort to Whalen.
"I do not believe that Gov. Pat Quinn can support these cuts
(that) run contrary to everything that he had said he believes in as
a governor and as a man," Whalen said. "He has articulated again and
again and again that the most vulnerable among us should not bear
major burden of the terrible, terrible fiscal shape that our state
is in."
If these cuts do happen, they are effective immediately,
according to Illinois Action for Children spokesman Adam Summers.
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The income tax increase is expected to raise close to $6.8
billion annually -- a far stretch from the state's expected budget
deficit of $15 billion. The governor reportedly has been asking
social service providers to lobby lawmakers for passage of $8.75
million in bonds, as outlined in
Senate Bill 3, primarily to help pay off a backlog of bills to
social service providers and other vendors.
State Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-Moline, hopes the governor will not
make any cuts to Illinois child care services.
"But the governor is left with very few choices," Jacobs said. "I
think the systematic problem is that we do not have enough money and
there are too many services."
And state Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, notes that no services,
agencies or groups are immune to budget cuts.
"Given the financial situation that we face, I don't believe that
there's any area within the budget that will not be looked at for
potential cuts," Brady said.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By MARY J. CRISTOBAL]
Illinois Statehouse News reporter
Melissa Leu contributed to this story.
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