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Republican Leaderships Brings Obamacare to IL Two Years Early
“Bipartisan usually means that a larger than usual deception is being carried out” – George Carlin.
Illinois is a state increasingly going against national trends. While over half the states in the country are currently suing the federal government to stop Obamacare from being implemented, Illinois Republicans cut a deal with Chicago Democrats to implement Obamacare two years early. Republicans in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives were united in their opposition to Obamacare, but Illinois Republicans became the first Republicans in the country to support Obamacare. Illinois Republicans were instrumental in implementing Obamacare before the United States Supreme Court could rule on its constitutionality and before Obama faces the voters in November.
Under existing law in Illinois, the state is barred from adding more people to the Medicaid rolls. This regulation was enacted as a reaction to the out of control, wasteful spending of the Rod Blagojevich era. HB 5007 creates a waiver for Governor Quinn to begin a massive expansion of Medicaid by enrolling 250,000 new people who wouldn’t have been eligible until Obamacare is implemented in 2014 .
Christine Radogno was against Obamacare before she was for it. “It’s a cruel irony to promise people health care and then they can’t get treatment because doctors don’t want to cover Medicaid patients. We’ve been working to cut health care costs, but this federal program will put more on the Medicaid rolls,” Radogno said in 2010. Cruel irony indeed.
Make no mistake, Obamacare will be implemented two years early in Illinois thanks to Republican leadership in the State House and Senate. Speaker Mike Madigan did not have the votes needed to pass Obamacare legislation. The final vote on HB 5007 was 62-55. The bill needed 60 votes to pass, but Madigan only had 51 Democrats. Republican Leader Tom Cross supplied 11 Republican votes to get Obamacare passed.
Radogno and Cross had a deal with the Democrats and were fully aware they were going against the will of their constituents. They did their best to ensure the Republicans voting for Obamacare were the ones not facing the voters in November. Radogno did her part by producing five votes for the bill from lame duck senators not running for re-election. Cross also delivered votes from Republicans not running for re-election: Franco Coladipietro, Rosemary Mulligan, Randy Ramey, and Dave Winters as well as Republicans with no Democrat opponents in November, like Mike Fortner.
Cross’s own leadership team voted for Obamacare: Assistant Republican Leader Jim Durkin, Deputy Republican Leader David Leitch and Deputy Republican Leader Timothy Schmitz.
When confronted by thousands of phone calls, emails and Facebook posts regarding his support for Obamacare, House Republican Leader Tom Cross claimed it was a rumor and a hoax being perpetrated by the tea party. Here is just one of the numerous emails Cross personally sent out:
This is some type of hoax . I do not support this and never have. We are looking into where this is coming from. Thank you for sharing.
Tom Cross
Here is another email personally sent from Cross:
Don’t know how this rumor started but I do NOT support the legislation you mention. I am in the process of putting together a statement.
Thank you for the heads up on this issue.
Tom Cross
We are still waiting for Cross’s “statement”. We have still received no explanation for his flip-flop on Obamacare. Cross instructed his staff to tell his constituents that Obamacare was not in the bill and they continued to give that response even after the bill was published with Obamacare clearly in it.
The problem for Christine Radogno and Tom Cross is that we actually read the bills. We asked our state senators and state representatives to read the bill, and some did. Many of them were shocked to find Obamacare was in the Medicaid bill after being told it was not. One representative called us back to admit that Obamacare was in the bill after telling us it wasn’t on Monday morning. We even have one disturbing example of a lead negotiator on Medicaid telling us they didn’t even know Obamacare was in the bill – they had to find out from an Illinois Tea Party email.
The problem for the people of Illinois is the leaders Radogno and Cross prefer to conduct the people’s business behind closed doors. Most members of the State Senate and State House depend on their leaders to keep them informed. The legislators don’t know what is being negotiated behind closed doors, they are forced to vote on “shell bills”, and they don’t have an opportunity to read the bills until it’s too late and a deal has already been cut. We had the time to read a 454 page amendment to the Medicaid bill because that was our primary focus and we were not dealing with dozens of other bills at the close of legislative session. How could a legislator be expected to read the amendment before voting on it?
Yes, Speaker Madigan is responsible for business as usual in Springfield, but Radogno and Cross are enabling these destructive practices. They have the ability to stop and slow the legislative process down, yet they do nothing. The Obamacare amendment was passed in the Senate without debate. Republicans had the opportunity to ask the sponsor, Sen. Kwame Raoul, questions about the bill, but they did not. Not one single question in the Senate about implementing Obamacare two years early. Not one question. Not one word. Not even a peep from Radogno’s caucus.
Pat Quinn, Mike Madigan and John Cullerton deserve much of the blame for the direction of our state, but Christine Radogno and Tom Cross are right there going along for the ride. It becomes increasingly difficult to blame Speaker Madigan for everything that is wrong in Springfield when Republicans are helping Madigan with the votes necessary to implement Obamacare. Our leaders need to be held accountable.
We need a change in leadership if there is any hope for Illinois. We can no longer afford to wait for the current Republican leadership to defeat Madigan and the Democrats, because it simply will not happen. We need a bold plan to usher in new leadership in Illinois. Daniel Burnham said:
“Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work.”
We have big plans coming. Stay tuned next week.
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