State Sen. Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) expressed his support on Monday for efforts by local residents to stage a tea party to protest high taxes and out-of-control government spending.

The Rockford tea party is being held on Tuesday, April 14 behind the Rockford Public Library on Wyman Street.

Government spending and taxation has gotten out-of-control, Syverson said. The voters have to get engaged in their government, otherwise they will lose more and more control and face a government broken and bankrupt by the poor fiscal policies we’ve seen both on the state and federal levels.

Syverson pointed to the 1773 Boston Tea Party as inspiration for the tea parties being staged across the country.

Two hundred thirty-six years ago, a handful of men dumped tea into Boston Harbor to protest the punishing tax policies of the British Crown, Syverson said. That one act by patriots set in motion a chain of events that birthed our great nation. The first American tea party helped create our nation, and maybe this second American tea party can help spark a revival to save it for the next generation.

Just like our Founding Fathers, we should be concerned about the way our government is behaving and spending. And taxpayers should be angry at the unwillingness of government politicians to even listen to what taxpayers concerns are.

But it’s crucial for us, as taxpayers, to also be responsible. Taxpayers owe it to themselves and their families to learn who their elected officials are, and how they voted on key issues. Keeping politicians accountable is the only way we are going to get our country out of our current fiscal mess and bring government back to the people.

For more information on the Rockford tea party, residents can contact David Hale at 779-348-5426 or email rockfordteaparty@gmail.com.

Seeking to bring fiscal discipline back to state government, Senate Republican lawmakers today unveiled a report detailing more than $21 billion in potential cost-savings during the next five years.

At a State Capitol press conference, State Senators Dave Syverson (R-Rockford), Matt Murphy (R-Palatine), Carole Pankau (R-Itasca) other Republican lawmakers on Deficit Reduction highlighted proposals to cut waste and overspending in the state budget that could yield $3.4 billion in the first year alone.

For several weeks, lawmakers serving on the Senate Committee on Deficit Reduction heard testimony from budget experts who discussed measures that could save billions of dollars a year. The Republican fiscal report discloses many of those proposals, including cost-savings within state government, Medicaid and pension reforms, and limiting education mandates.
A full copy of the report can be found on the Senate Republican’s Web site: www.senategop.state.il.us.

The Senate Republican members of the committee set out to answer three basic questions during the course of testimony: How did Illinois get here? How do we get Illinois out of this mess? How do we avoid Illinois ever being in this situation again?

“We strongly believe fiscal reform is key to getting Illinois out of its current budget crisis,” said Murphy, the Committee’s Republican Spokesman. “We didn’t get here because taxpayers were taxed too little – we’re facing a multi-billion dollar deficit because Rod Blagojevich and his legislative allies spent and borrowed too much. These fiscal reform proposals, if implemented, can save taxpayers billions of dollars a year and bring us closer to a balanced budget.”
Syverson said the changes will take some time but are necessary.

“The fiscal crisis we’re facing didn’t occur overnight, it happened after six years of overspending and fiscal mismanagement,” Syverson said. “Solving the crisis won’t happen overnight either. However, by implementing some of the recommendations in this report, we can start Illinois down the road of responsible government once again without increasing the tax burden on taxpayers.”

The Republican lawmakers’ savings and reform report is in contrast to recent Democrat budget proposals, which hinge on more than $4 billion in tax hikes on personal income and the Illinois economy, which already ranks 46th in the nation in terms of job growth.

“Illinois needs to create jobs, not new taxes,” Murphy said. “Reducing our budget deficit through fiscal discipline will reduce the need for tax hikes, and will put Illinois on a path to turn back the policies of the Blagojevich Administration that have harmed our economy and racked up the budget deficits we’re currently faced with.”

The Republican fiscal report identifies at least $21 billion in savings during a five-year period. It includes:

• Medicaid global waiver ($435 million in one year, $2.9 billion over five years)

• Medicaid acute care ($130 million in one year, $865 million over five years)

• Medicaid rebalancing long-term care ($110 million in one year, $730 million over five years)

• Medicaid pharmacy cost containment ($110 million in one year, $730 million over five years)

• Developmental disabilities shared living ($75 million in one year, $500 million over five years)

• Medicaid determination of eligibility ($120 million in one year, $800 million over five years)

• Improved vendor management techniques ($300 million in one year, $2 billion over five years)

• State Employee Group Insurance retiree healthcare changes ($1.1 billion in one year, $6.7 billion over five years)

• Purchasing and contracting reforms to greater utilize information technology and improve vendor management ($400 million in one year, $2.2 billion over five years)

• Higher contributions from State? pension members ($350 million in one year, $1.9 billion over five years)

• Reduce/cap funds to local governments ($250 million in one year, $1.25 billion over five years)

The report also identified other areas that could also result in cost-savings, though dollar amounts are unspecified:

• Raising the cap on charter schools

• Limiting new mandates and repealing obsolete mandates on local school districts

• Managed care reforms

• Medicaid eligibility changes

• Pension benefit reforms for new hires

• Implement a statewide employment and promotion freeze

• Higher education reforms

• Supreme Court budget reforms

• Consolidation and elimination of unnecessary, redundant state programs

• Capital contracting and procurement reforms

Noting that many of the cost-savings measures are proposals that have seen support on both sides of the aisle, the Republican lawmakers say they stand ready to work with the Governor and Democrats to pass a budget that reins in the spending excesses of recent years.

“People have had enough of government spending beyond its means,” said Syverson “Across Illinois, families are tightening their belts and cutting their budgets to deal with the economic crisis. State government should follow their lead, and come up with a budget blueprint that ends the unrestrained spending we’ve seen in recent years.”