"We should share the burden of balancing
the budget and reducing spending throughout state government, rather
than targeting some of our state's most vulnerable citizens.
"We need a systematic, well-reasoned
approach to reducing the state's budget, which we must do, but the
governor has chosen a quick fix that will disrupt the care that
patients and their families receive in our mental health and
developmental disability facilities and further strain an already
overcrowded prison system.
"The savings from the Quinn-proposed
layoffs and facility closings today would amount to less than a
quarter of 1 percent of the state's operations budget. He could
undoubtedly find the same $55 million in savings by looking for
waste and inefficiencies in his administration or by eliminating
nonessential programs."
[Text from
Sen.
Bill Brady] |