Re: Stupid black Mayor Brandon Johnson cites differences on migrant response for failure to pitch in on latest state, Cook County funding plan

[Why Are Democrats Stupid]

On 15 Mar 2022, Rudy Canoza <notg...@gmail.com> posted some
news:035YJ.107096$4JN7....@fx05.iad:

> Democrats fucking over Americans again. That's what Democrats do and
> the Stockholm Syndrome retarded leftists still vote for them. They
> must like getting ass-raped every election.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle on
Thursday pledged to seek more than $250 million in additional funding
for Chicago’s migrant response, about $70 million short of what
officials estimate will be needed this year.

The announcement from Pritzker’s office did not mention any
contributions from the city of Chicago, and Mayor Brandon Johnson spent
a post-City Council news conference denying there was a rift between him
and other levels of government, while also defending the city’s
reluctance thus far to fill in the $70 million gap.

State, county and city officials project $321 million is needed to keep
the migrant operation — including the city’s costly shelter system —
afloat through the end of 2024, according to the governor’s office.

The mayor told reporters his administration remains in talks with
Pritzker and Preckwinkle’s teams but hinted at differences on how to
respond to the crisis — including the ongoing strife over who should be
in charge of the mission to house and feed the asylum-seekers.

“There are a number of matters that need to be worked through,” Johnson
said when pressed about the lack of a financial commitment from the
city. “It’s not just about financial resources. As I’ve said before,
right now the city of Chicago is solely responsible for providing
emergency temporary shelter. … Remember the state, they’ve committed to
2,000 beds back in November? Do you remember that?”

Johnson was referring to the $65 million Pritzker previously pledged for
a massive winterized tent encampment that never materialized. The mayor
also said that despite the potential for an additional $250 million in
state and county funding, the city is still on track to close shelters
in the long run amid “financial restraints.”

He said he could not guarantee the funding would even carry the city’s
migrant response through the summer — which is when the pace of migrant
buses sent from Texas’ Republican governor is expected to ramp up ahead
of the Democratic National Convention in late August.

A source familiar with talks on the migrant response among city, county
and state officials said Johnson initially agreed to provide additional
funding but later backed off, a characterization the mayor bristled at
during Thursday’s news conference.

“No one in this city — let’s make it broader. No one in the state of
Illinois, in this country, is questioning Mayor Brandon Johnson’s
commitment to this mission,” he said. “No one is.”

But Pritzker’s office appeared to be doing just that in pointing out the
city’s failure to join in on the latest funding plan.

“The governor agreed to step up and cover more than half of this cost at
$182 million,” Pritzker spokesperson Jordan Abudayyeh said. “The county
president also stepped up to cover an additional $70 million. You will
have to ask the city what their plans are for the remaining $70 million
that all parties have agreed is needed to fund this humanitarian
response.”

The migrant crisis has been marked by several instances of tension
between Pritzker and Johnson. In December, the governor scrapped
Johnson’s plan to build a migrant camp on a Southwest Side lot over
environmental concerns. Last month, Pritzker said he was “deeply
concerned” about the mayor’s decision to hold off on opening new
shelters.

Pritzker said he will propose $182 million for migrant assistance as
part of the fiscal year 2025 budget, which goes into effect July 1,
while Preckwinkle said she will work with her County Board to come up
with $70 million. Pritzker is scheduled to give his budget address in
Springfield on Wednesday. His proposals will have to be approved by the
General Assembly, where Senate President Don Harmon, an Oak Park
Democrat, has expressed resistance to funding migrants as a standalone
issue.

“With thousands of asylum-seekers continuing to come to Chicago in
desperate need of support and with Congress continuing to refuse to
act—it is clear the state, county, and city will have to do more to keep
people safe,” Pritzker said in a statement.

Since August 2022, the state said it has directed about $640 million to
deal with the influx of some 35,000 migrants, most of them bused to
Chicago from Texas, including $160 million that was announced in
November. The money was aimed at providing more robust legal and
employment assistance and relieving pressure on Chicago’s shelter system
that was hampering efforts to connect migrants with housing and jobs
through the construction of a centralized intake center.

Johnson allocated $150 million in his 2024 budget for the city’s migrant
response, though he and others acknowledged that amount will likely be
insufficient for the mounting costs to care for the asylum-seekers. Over
the past several months, the mayor’s office announced they could no
longer open new shelters as the money was quickly dwindling. City
officials recently projected the $150 million would run out by April,
saying that all options were on the table to address that fiscal cliff.

While the number of migrants arriving to the city has dropped in recent
weeks, Abudayyeh noted arrival numbers can ebb and flow regularly and
that the state funding is necessary to anticipate more migrants arriving
to the city in the coming months, especially during the remainder of
winter.

“If we could get through this year and less people come, that would be
the best solution,” she said. “But we have to plan for what we think
could be ahead of us.”

Experts who study immigration trends say a drop in border crossings is
typical for this time of year but there’s no indication of how numbers
may look in a few weeks or months.

In any event, the situation remains chaotic. A single shelter on the
Lower West Side is housing over 2,200 migrants, many in dire need of
food and shelter. Ninoska Rivas, 34, said she got to Chicago 15 days ago
with her husband and seven children on a bus from Texas. She hasn’t been
able to find work and her kids haven’t enrolled in school.

“The only people who get rental assistance are those who got here three
months ago,” she said Thursday. “We don’t know what to do. It’s crowded
and the food is bad inside the shelter. It was so cold this morning.”

This year’s county budget included more than $100 million for new
arrival costs, largely for health care spending. Cook County Health has
been spending roughly $1.5 million to $2.5 million a month to provide
physicals, testing and lab services, vaccinations, behavioral health
screenings and counseling, prescriptions and follow-up visits, as well
as transport to appointments.

A late budget amendment included in the county’s 2024 budget created an
emergency fund largely dedicated to the migrant mission, including $70
million that could be tapped for new arrival health care and $20 million
set aside to compensate municipal or local government costs involving
migrant care.

Late last month, Preckwinkle said officials had yet to tap into that
emergency fund and that suburban officials had not taken her up on a
request to provide shelter space to supplement Chicago’s efforts.

Given the current run rate of the county’s health care spending, it’s
unclear what the $70 million in additional funding would entail. County
officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“As critical funding for this ongoing humanitarian crisis stalls in
Congress, Cook County stands committed to the well-being of the region,”
Preckwinkle said in Thursday’s news release. “We cannot wait for
additional resources and Cook County is proud to stand alongside
Governor Pritzker in this joint funding plan, ensuring that shelter
capacity, health care and wraparound services remain accessible to those
in need.”

In addition to possible resistance from his fellow Democrats in the
legislature, Pritzker’s proposal for additional state funding was
already being criticized by Republican legislative leadership, with
House Republican leader Tony McCombie of Savanna saying that the
Pritzker administration said “four weeks ago” that the state didn’t have
money for “basic care for our developmentally disabled.”

“Now he has $182 million burning a hole in his pocket,” she said. “This
migrant crisis needs a long-term plan, not a blank check that disregards
our most vulnerable.”

Chicago Tribune’s Nell Salzman contributed.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/02/15/mayor-brandon-johnson-notably-a
bsent-as-gov-j-b-pritzker-cook-county-president-toni-preckwinkle-pledge-2
50-million-in-migrant-aid/