Joan Esposito is joined by State Rep. Ann Williams (D-IL), who discussed the state legislature's spring session. Key actions included allocating over $160 million to the budget stabilization fund and creating a bridge reserve fund for short-term emergencies. Williams also addressed the potential impact of federal spending cuts. "The numbers that I last saw were over 330,000 Illinoisans would be cut in terms of their health coverage. That's 3 million people additionally relying on Medicaid and 2 million on SNAP benefits. We don't know how it's going to come down. We're trying to shore up where we can, but the state only can do so much on the programs we fund. But we have historically relied on a responsible federal government, no matter what party was in power, and that's something, unfortunately, we're not seeing these days."
Williams also spoke about the "fiscal cliff" connected to transit funding and the intense interest her constituents have expressed in seeing the issue resolved. "I think we got close to 1,500 unique emails just on the transit issue in May alone, which is really just not common. So everyone's thinking about transit. Everyone's talking about transit. It's such a big issue in my area, on the North Side of Chicago, that I have a dedicated staff person focused on transit issues. In terms of governance reforms, there's a lot of comments on things we can do to consolidate. That being said, the suburbs want to have a seat at the table and deserve a seat at the table. And I know my friends in DuPage County, Kane, Lake, McHenry also have an important role to play. Even though I represent only the city of Chicago -- very CTA-focused -- I understand we have to look at this holistically. So I think we're going to continue having conversations." Williams said she is other North Side legislators are planning a transit-oriented town hall.
Catch "Joan Esposito: Live, Local and Progressive" weekdays from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/live-local-progressive).
And find the Joan Esposito (Full Episodes) podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, YouTube, and Amazon.
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