ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Residents in the Quad Cities and groups hurt by a lack of funding and services due to the state’s extended budget impasse are standing with state Reps. Mike Smiddy, D-Port Byron, and Pat Verschoore D-Rock Island – at a press conference on Thursday, Jan. 21 at 10 a.m. at the Rock Island Health Department, located at 2112 25th Avenue in Rock Island – to urge Gov. Rauner to focus on crafting a desperately needed budget rather than maintaining his attention on non-budget items.
Rauner’s veto of the state budget this summer has jeopardized a number of essential services that provide cancer screenings for women, meals for hungry senior citizens, enhance educational opportunities and ensure medical care for those in need, leaving many residents and social service providers with nowhere to turn.
Residents in the Quad Cities and groups directly impacted by Gov. Rauner’s months-long budget impasse will stand with Reps. Smiddy and Verschoore and urge him to focus on what should be his top priority and call on him to pass a long overdue budget for fiscal year 2016 that protects local jobs and necessary programs that many Illinoisans rely upon.
