By IRN/Will Stevenson
SPRINGFIELD – The Service Employees International Union is spearheading an effort to try to restore funding to the Child Care Assistance Program, or C-CAP.
The state legislature didn’t overturn restrictions the state put into place — restrictions making less people eligible for assistance. Elliot Richardson of the Small Business Advisory Council supports the effort.
“What’s going on in Springfield in general is absolutely ridiculous right now, from a small business perspective,” says Richardson. “Lots of folks are getting hurt — among them are child care workers and those that depend on child care, so they can work at small businesses to support their families.”
Elizabeth Austin is the Vice President for Policy with Innovation Illinois, and says the cuts Governor Bruce Rauner Approved making people who make 50 percent of poverty-level wages instead of the previous 185 percent doesn’t save the state much money.
“About 73 percent of the child care assistance dollars — come from the federal governmet,” says Austin. “So for every dollar we cut from that program, we lose 73 cents in federal funds. So that’s reducing the amount of money that’s moving around in our economy.”
That, Austin says, does not include the economic impact on the parents receiving the funding.
SEIU Healthcare says it’ll target both Democrat and Republican lawmakers ahead of legislation being introduced in the next month.
