Protest In Illinois Over Budget Not Passing: How A State Suffers When Money Bill Isn't Passed

The Illinois General Assembly, known for launching careers of political giants like Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas and Barack Obama, is facing trouble over its failure in passing an annual spending plan for more than two years, reports said.

As the state approaches 700 days without a budget and a midnight deadline for the current legislative session May 31, protestors from social services agencies staged a protest outside the state Capitol and later a sit-in outside Governor Bruce Rauner's office, ABC7 reported.

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Dozens of demonstrators refused to leave the state Capitol until they were forced to, reports said. "Our elected officials need to choose the side of the people, right now they are putting the interests of the top 1 percent and corporations ahead of human needs," said Alex Muhammad, a protester.

Rauner and the state's top Democrats, House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton, have been at the odds since the governor took office in 2015 promising to make Illinois more economically competitive. Rauner wanted the Legislature to pass measures such as limiting collective bargaining by public-worker unions and reducing the cost to businesses of workers' compensation insurance, according to a report.

Rauner said if Democrats agreed to some changes, he would sign tax increases to help close Illinois' multi billion-dollar budget deficit.

There is no doubt that the state's failure to pass a budget in the last two years have resulted in the residents facing a lot of trouble. Social service organizations that have contracts with the state, and the low-income populations they serve, are likely to suffer the most, the New York Times reported.

In 2015, some nonprofits did not receive money from the state since months which led them to deplete their cash reserves and scale back services. Mark Mathews, the executive director of the Child Abuse Council in Moline, which provides counseling and visits homes of troubled families, said he had to reduce his staff by expelling two people and reducing one program’s caseload by 40 percent.

“It’s definitely damaging the not-for-profit agencies,” Mathews told the Times. “We haven’t been serving as many families. At-risk families aren’t getting home visits or services. That’s the tough thing.”

Schools too are bearing the brunt. They are worried they would not get state money which they normally receive during summer.

According to Center for American Progress, the future of public higher education is uncertain in Illinois. Due to the budget impasse in the state that has frozen all state funding to higher education centers, public colleges have sent layoff notices to hundreds of employees and received substantial credit downgrades from Moody’s Investors Service.