Gaffney: Quinn’s State of the State Speech Short on Solutions

Following Governor Pat Quinn’s State of the State address to a joint session of the Illinois General Assembly, State Representative Kent Gaffney (R-Lake Barrington) indicated that Quinn’s plans for reform do not go far enough and are a continuation of the Democrats’ failed fiscal policies.

“Governor Quinn is suggesting that we ignore the pension crisis and instead push pension costs onto local governing bodies,” Gaffney said. “Shifting pension costs from the State to local schools and colleges will force school districts to pass massive property tax increases. We will never fix the State’s pension problems by passing the buck. We need real pension reform now.”

Quinn addressed the need to rein in Medicaid costs but Gaffney notes that while other states have been aggressively pursuing federal waivers to implement Medicaid reforms, Illinois has not. These waivers would allow only legal Illinois residents to receive Medicaid benefits. There has been wide spread fraud reported in the Medicaid system that costs Illinois taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

“Public aid offices aren’t even allowed to ask if a Medicaid applicant is a resident of Illinois,” said Gaffney. “This program is paid for by Illinois taxpayers. Why in the world would Quinn not take appropriate steps to ensure only Illinoisans receive benefits?”

Quinn also trumpeted his own job creation credentials, claiming he is a job friendly governor.  Gaffney scoffed at this notion, stating Illinois’ unemployment rate has risen to the seventh highest in the nation. Quinn worked with Democrat legislators to impose a job-killing tax increase that is crippling our economy and hurting our working families. Gaffney believes that if Quinn wants to truly be job friendly, he must start by repealing his tax increase.

“Governor Quinn seems to be pushing platitudes more that solutions. We need to start working on real solutions to our economic and budget problems,” said Gaffney. “We must repeal the tax increase, implement pension reform and stop spending money we do not have.”

      Information submitted by Representative Kent Gaffney office