SPRINGFIELD - Last week, House Republicans unveiled a four-bill package to reduce welfare waste, fraud, and abuse in Illinois that House Democrats refuse to move forward. The common sense proposals would:
- require all LINK cards (food stamps and other Illinois welfare benefits for eligible recipients) to carry an identifiable photograph, as has been required for decades on drivers’ licenses;
- ban the use of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) aid money to purchase alcoholic beverages, lottery tickets, firearms, firearm ammunition, performance admission tickets, gambling games, and the rental of appliances or furnishings (such as big-screen TV sets); and
- suspend public aid benefits to inmates at State correctional facilities and recipients with outstanding arrest warrants.
The bill numbers are HB 133 (Cavaletto), HB 2490 (Cabello), HB 2784 (Bost), and HB 3174 (Cabello). The efforts were presented in various Downstate press conferences on Tuesday, April 23. While most taxpayers want their hard-earned dollars to be spent wisely by the state, Democrats are holding up the progress of any of the measures to reform the state's financially-strapped public assistance system.
The House Democratic leadership returned HB 133 to Rules Committee at the end of March, where it continues to sit despite a respectable number of co-signers: Rep. John D. Cavaletto - JoAnn D. Osmond - Brad E. Halbrook - Joe Sosnowski - Adam Brown, David Reis, John M. Cabello, C.D. Davidsmeyer, Tom Demmer, Josh Harms, Pam Roth, Barbara Wheeler,Bill Mitchell, Sandra M. Pihos, Michael W. Tryon, Robert W. Pritchard and Dwight Kay.
HB 2490 was unable to get by the Democrat-controlled Human Services Committee before the March 22 deadline. It is supported by Rep. John M. Cabello - Barbara Wheeler - Tom Demmer - C.D. Davidsmeyer - Pam Roth, Joe Sosnowski, Adam Brown, Josh Harms, Bill Mitchell, David Reis, Michael W. Tryon, Robert W. Pritchard and Dwight Kay.
TANF purchase reform is off the table with Bost's HB 2784 stuck in Rules with supporters Rep. Mike Bost - C.D. Davidsmeyer - Barbara Wheeler - John M. Cabello - Brad E. Halbrook, Adam Brown, Tom Demmer, Joe Sosnowski, Pam Roth, Dwight Kay, Josh Harms, Bill Mitchell, David Reis,Sandra M. Pihos, Michael W. Tryon and Robert W. Pritchard.
And inmates will continue to receive public aid because HB 3174 was unable to pass the Democrat-controlled Human Services Committee, despite support from Rep. John M. Cabello - Joe Sosnowski - Pam Roth - Adam Brown - Tom Demmer, C.D. Davidsmeyer,Barbara Wheeler, Bill Mitchell, David Reis, Michael W. Tryon, Robert W. Pritchard and Dwight Kay.
