Two years ago I created a series of newspaper ads warning Southern Illinois residents, businesses and working families about the effects of "slash-and-burn" budgets. My intent was to bring to light the situation that was unfolding in Springfield where some lawmakers were putting politics before the good of the people. These lawmakers insisted on making deep cuts without fully taking into account the impact they would have on residents and state agencies.

Don’t get me wrong, making responsible cuts was essential to getting our state on the right fiscal path. That’s why I took concrete steps this year to help bring Illinois out of one of the worst economic downturns since the Great Depression. I helped pass a total spending plan that was $6.7 billion less than the previous year’s when factoring in that $3.7 billion was borrowed to make pension payments last year. In other words, Illinois’ total government spending this year is $59.1 billion compared to last year’s $65.8 billion mark – more than a 10% decrease. But along with this plan, I also voted for a bill that accompanied the budget cuts to maintain funding for important programs, like the methamphetamine treatment program at the Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center. Unfortunately some legislators refused to go along with this and decided to play politics instead of working together. This bill would have kept facilities open and sustained funding for a number of important programs. Without this legislation, the budget passed this spring contains some flaws and we need to revisit the budget in the coming months.

This year, the "storm" I warned Southern Illinois residents about two years ago may be becoming a reality. Due to shortcomings in the budget, the governor this past week announced that seven state facilities would be closing and, as a result, nearly 2,000 employees would be laid off. Locally, two facilities in Southern Illinois – Chester Mental Health Center and the Illinois Youth Center in Murphysboro – are being forced to close their doors, resulting in more than 500 layoffs. This recent announcement comes months after the governor already vetoed $376 million from the budget in June that eliminated funding for regional superintendents and slashed scheduled pay raises for AFSCME employees.

There’s no question that some lawmakers’ refusal to work with the other side of the aisle has played a major role in Illinois’ current dilemma. The bottom line is, we’re going to have to work together in the coming months and see where we’re at with revenues to keep these facilities open and keep people working. Again, let me be absolutely clear, we absolutely cannot have any new spending for new programs. But what we can – and should – do is go back and fix the flaws so funding for important programs can be maintained. The juvenile treatment facility is so important to our area and I will continue to fight to keep its doors open. We need to work together to prevent facilities from shutting down and work to stop massive layoffs because closing facilities does more harm than good.