Transportation Funding in Jeopardy as a Result of Political Games

Once again, the importatnt transporation needs of Illinois are fodder for political gamesmanship between the Democratic controlled leislature and Governor's office. As this article points out if the state does not agree on a capital spending bill (which seems less likely with each passing day) then the taxpayers of Illinois stand to loose more than $10 billion dollars of Federal money we have already paid for! This underscores the importance of this fall's election and the consequences of not sending new leadership to Springfield to deal with these and other issues.

The article from the Chicago Tribune is below:


$5 billion a year needed to maintain Illinois roads and bridges, experts say
Bipartisan panel warns public officials that time is running out to shore up funding

By Richard Wronski
Tribune reporter
11:08 PM CDT, April 23, 2008
Illinois needs to invest at least $5 billion a year in additional funding just to maintain its roads, bridges, transit systems and airports, experts told a bipartisan panel grappling with the problem of the state's crumbling infrastructure Wednesday.

But it has been more than eight years since the General Assembly enacted the state's last public works package, and time is running out for legislators to act on a new measure this spring, according to the Transportation for Illinois Coalition.

The organization sounded the warning before about 250 public officials, transportation heads and business representatives at a DuPage County transportation summit.

The Naperville gathering was one of the largest in a six-week series of statewide "listening sessions" held by former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Glenn Poshard, president of Southern Illinois University, to bring attention to the issue.

Hastert, a Yorkville Republican, and Poshard, a Democrat from Carbondale, were appointed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich to pitch his $25 billion public works program. But many believe that proposal would not meet the state's needs.

"You can't do a capital bill on the cheap," said RTA Chairman Jim Reilly. "You will find out you haven't done anything."

The state must invest a greater local match to recover $10 billion in federal highway funds—tax money that Illinoisans already have paid, Hastert said.

"If you leave $10 billion on the table, it doesn't make much sense," he said.

The longtime congressman said after the session that he is confident that the political gridlock in Springfield that has stalled a public works plan can be broken. There is still time for legislative leaders to talk out their differences as the spring session winds down, he said.

Hastert said he was optimistic because he served in the state legislature with three of the four leaders, House Speaker Michael Madigan, Senate President Emil Jones and Senate GOP leader Frank Watson. And House GOP leader Tom Cross "was a student of mine" when Hastert was a Yorkville High School history teacher, he said.

"We can sit down with the legislative leaders and the governor, around the table, and try to define the scope [of the legislation] and try to find what the revenue sources are [to fund it] and have a good bipartisan effort," Hastert said.