Illinois to fund services for disabled kids amid budget feud

Illinois will begin paying for services to help young children with developmental disabilities and to assist seniors in their homes despite not having a budget in place and warnings from lawmakers that the state is spending billions more than it’s taking in.

Comptroller Leslie Munger said Wednesday that payments for early intervention providers will be processed “immediately”. He says Munger allowed the process begun by her late predecessor to continue because it was pre-approved by an independent inspector general. Without a budget, they haven’t been paid since July.

Munger’s office is setting up accounts and will begin making payments to those providers.

“I know the tremendous benefits that early intervention services can provide to our delayed and disabled infants and toddlers, and I was extremely concerned when I learned many providers would likely be suspending their vital therapeutic services at the end of this month”, Munger said.

Munger said during a Wednesday news conference that some people have suggested she’s promoting a business-friendly agenda similar to Rauner’s because he tells her to. That disagreement has been the main point of the budget stalemate all summer, and some say budget negotiations have deteriorated into a battle of wills on who will break first: Rauner or Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan.

Therapy she says has little Leor Braun smiling, and responding to his own name.