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Governor again bypasses
Legislature to fund embryonic stem cell research Despite the
objections of the state Legislature, the governor took it upon
himself last week to allocate $5 million in state funds for
controversial embryonic stem cell research.
The Legislature has repeatedly rejected the idea of using public
money to fund embryonic stem cell research. But the governor
continues to go around the Legislature and use public money for the
research. This spring, the governor took it upon himself to direct
some $10 million of state funds toward the controversial research.
This is in stark contrast to how the issue was handled at the
federal level. Congress exercised its constitutional authority to
pass a stem cell research bill, and the president used his
constitutional authority to veto it. Gov. Rod Blagojevich, on the
other hand, bypassed the legislative process completely to secure
this funding.
The governor is taking the $5 million from the Department of
Healthcare and Family Services' budget. This decision comes on the
heels of Comptroller Dan Hynes' Comprehensive Annual Financial
Report showing the backlog of unpaid bills piling up. According to
the report, the state's total deficit is more than $3 billion, an
all-time record high in Illinois.
If the state has an extra $5 million to spare, Sen. Bill Brady
believes the money should go to pay the state's current Medicaid
bills.
Brady is morally opposed to the taking of innocent human life,
including the destruction of human embryos. He emphasized he does
not oppose public funding for research using adult stem cell lines,
where the greatest scientific advances have been made, and he has
proposed legislation to promote research with adult stem cells and
cord blood.
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 Backlog of unpaid Medicaid bills hurting Illinois families
A downstate newspaper, the Southern Illinoisan, printed a story
last week showing that it is not just businesses that have been hurt
by the growing backlog of unpaid Medicaid bills. Because of the
unpaid bills, many patients suddenly are finding it more and more
difficult to get the care they need.
According to the paper, a couple from Marion cannot get medical
care for their 4-year-old daughter, thanks to the state's
unwillingness to pay its bills. Their daughter has had eye surgery,
three heart surgeries and has had to deal with kidney disease. Born
six weeks premature, their daughter has been under the care of
physicians her entire life.
But just last week the family was told that the eye center at St.
Louis Children's Hospital could no longer treat their daughter,
because the state of Illinois was not paying the bills for her and
had not paid any bills to the hospital for almost seven months.
As the unpaid bills continue to pile up, more and more health
care providers will simply stop taking Medicaid patients, making it
more difficult for them to get the care they need. Sadly, there will
be more people facing the same challenges that this couple in Marion
is facing unless the current administration's policies are changed.
To read more about this family from Marion, go to the following
link:
http://www.southernillinoisan.com/
articles/2006/07/21/top/16994134.txt.
[Column from
Sen. Bill Brady] |
