The nonprofit advisory council told Leslie Munger, early intervention services have not been receiving payments during the budget impasse. He says Munger allowed the process begun by her late predecessor to continue because it was pre-approved by an independent inspector general.
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After looking more closely at several active consent decrees, DHS and Munger agreed that early intervention services were covered. She did not immediately know how much is owed. “My office is working today to set up the accounts and we will immediately begin making payments to early intervention providers as soon as we receive vouchers from DHS so we can avoid further hardships”.
Lisa Christensen Gee, a policy analyst with Voices for Illinois Children, said social service agencies are “in a state of crisis.”
Munger also said that suggestions by some people that she’s a “mouthpiece” for Rauner are wrong. She says: “I say these things because I believe it”.
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During a speech at a GOP gathering last month she described herself as Rauner’s budgetary “wingman”, and frequently advocates for Rauner-backed agenda items such as changing workers’ compensation to make it less costly for businesses. 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.
