South Cook News

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and other Democratic leaders announced May 24 that they had reached agreement on a $50 billion state budget, but lawmakers quickly adjourned before the measure could go to the Senate floor for a vote.

“The Senate and the House have agreed to give us the tools to manage the program properly,” Pritzker said in a story by the Chicago Tribune, saying the budget plan "allows us to provide health care for the people who are on the program now and make sure that we’re continuing the program going forward, but in a budget-friendly way so that everybody gets the health care that they need.”

After lawmakers ended a session that ensured talks would extend into the weekend, a spokesman for Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) said the legislation was “being reviewed by all parties to ensure it reflects the agreement we have.”

WLS reported late on May 26 that the budget passed the Senate and had moved to the House, which also passed the plan early on May 27, with voting mainly going along party lines. In a speech on the Senate floor, Sen. Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro) criticized Democrats for the allocation of funding for noncitizens as part of the budget deal.

“I do think that when we are putting budgets together, priorities are important. Now I made one issue a priority for me this past year because I wanted to understand better how certain money was being spent. One of those areas was on the immigrant welcoming centers," Bryant said in the speech.

Pritzker has added $1.1 billion to the estimated cost of his Medicaid-style program for immigrants. As more have flocked to Chicago, the rising costs are putting greater pressure on the state budget.

The medical program now covers immigrants age 42 and older who are in the country illegally or who have green cards but haven’t completed the five-year waiting period that makes them eligible for traditional insurance programs for the indigent, the Tribune reported.