Political bickering shadows 'pass through' bill

<span>Simply put, Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration is accusing House Speaker Michael Madigan of attempting to pull a fast one with Senate Bill 2042.</span>

<span>The bill, if approved and signed as-is, would allow nearly $4.8 billion in "pass through" federal money to be spent by state agencies, including those that support the area's closed senior centers.</span>

<span>Currently, agencies cannot distribute the federal monies without an overall state budget agreement in place.</span>

<span>But a Tuesday news release from Rauner's administration accused Madigan "and the legislators he controls" of attempting to attach a "poison pill" amendment that would increase general revenue spending by $585 million.</span>

<span>"Governor Rauner has supported and continues to support a clean federal pass through appropriations bill," Rauner spokesman Lance Trover said in the release. "Unfortunately, Speaker Madigan continues to play games with taxpayer money and is trying to force through higher state spending with no budget."</span>

<span>The release came attached with a memo from Tim Nuding, director of the Governor's Office of Management and Budget (GOMB), that said that the house amendment provides $1.56 billion in additional appropriation authority to the bill.</span>

<span>"Seeing no accompanying pieces of legislation that would reduce state spending and noting that many of the appropriations contained herein are at identical levels to those contained in the majority's unconstitutional May budget submission leads GOMB to the logical conclusion that these appropriations would be part of an overall unbalanced, unconstitutional budget," Nuding wrote in the memo.</span>

<span>Forty-eight minutes after the Rauner release, the Madigan camp sent out its own news release on the amendment, saying the additional appropriations would add funds for a variety of causes, including disaster relief, breast and cervical cancer screenings, funding for assistance to children with disabilities and Meals on Wheels for homebound elderly residents.</span>

<span>"After examining the legislation passed by the Senate, which Governor Rauner expressed his support for, we were contacted about additional programs of vital importance to the health and well-being of families across Illinois where the state and federal governments both provide funding," Madigan said in his release. "We believe funding for these programs, which can be delivered despite the lack of a state budget in place, is needed before the measure is sent to the governor."</span>

<span>The current version of SB 2042 was unanimously, on a 57-0 vote, approved in the Senate and the full House could vote on the amended bill on Wednesday.</span>

<span>Previously, the House passed an amendment last week that added additional agencies that were inadvertently left out of the original legislation.</span>

<span>Rauner's release indicated the governor would sign the "clean bill" as promised, but would veto the spending legislation.</span>

<span>The Herald Tribune contacted Western Egyptian Economic Opportunity, which operates the currently closed senior sites in Chester, Columbia, Red Bud and Waterloo, for comment, but was told Executive Director Paulette Hamlin was unavailable.</span>

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