SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - As families across the state face losing access to vital state services, state Rep. Mike Smiddy, D-Hillsdale, voted Wednesday to pass a one month budget extension that would have ensured children and seniors continue to receive vital support in July.
"As the governor continues to push the state toward a shutdown by refusing to negotiate on the budget, it is the working and middle class families that depend on state services that will suffer," Smiddy said. "This proposal will allow the critical aid that the elderly, the sick and thousands of working families depend upon to continue while I continue to work to find a responsible budget."
Smiddy voted to pass House Bill 4190 to fund critical services for one month. The bill extends $2.2 billion in state fund to pay for essential items including child care assistance, home services for seniors and those with developmental and physical disabilities and healthcare for veterans. The measure would also keep medical assistance programs for Illinois' poorest and most sick afloat.
"The children, seniors and veterans who will be left without the services they deserve are the real victims of the governor's insistence on a government shutdown," Smiddy said. "We cannot balance the state budget by cutting state services that save money in the long run and I am disappointed that many of my colleagues did not join me in standing up for hardworking men and women across the state."
House Bill 4190 failed to receive the required 71 votes to pass. Smiddy says he will continue working with members from both sides of the aisle, or any part of the state, who want to work together to find fiscally responsible solutions.
For more information, please contact Smiddy's full-time constituent service office at 309-848-9098.
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