Progress Illinois

Put Illinois To Work is a stimulus program that gives private employers subsidies to hire (for $10-per-hour) Illinoisans eligible for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.  And so far, it appears to be working splendidly.  But unless the U.S. Senate extends the underlying funding stream for the program, state officials will be forced eliminate it on September 30. 

On the White House blog yesterday, Jared Bernstein -- the Chief Economic Advisor to Vice President Joe Biden -- asked Congress to keep the TANF program afloat, citing Illinois' success as an example.  Check out his full argument here.

Mark Kirk is finally receiving some scrutiny for the mammoth property tax break he has received in recent years on his North Shore condo. 

We first wrote about the issue in June 2008 after noticing that the congressman had voted against a bill to offer first-time homeowners a modest tax credit.  We reprised the issue last week after Kirk criticized his Democratic Senate opponent for having no tax liability in 2009 under the federal tax code.  And at a press conference yesterday, reporters confronted Kirk about the tax break. 

Today's Sun-Times headline: "Kirk used tax loophole to save $35K"

Politifact isn't the only political watchdog taking GOP U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kirk to task for stretching the truth in his campaign ads.

On Friday, Factcheck.org criticized a series of statements Kirk's camp used in two spots released in late June. Many of the fibs identified by the group should be familiar to Progress Illinois readers: Researchers found that Kirk exaggerated his efforts to protect Lake Michigan from BP pollution, falsely asserted that an Alexi Giannoulias aide is a former "BP lobbyist," and misidentified the state treasurer as the chief culprit in the Bright Start college savings controversy. Factcheck also complicated the claim that Giannoulias supports "higher energy taxes," pointing out that he actually backs a (responsible) cap-and-trade system, which Kirk himself once supported. Finally, in its most detailed breakdown, Factcheck said the North Shore Republican "goes too far in saying that Giannoulias 'made' loans to 'convicted mobsters.'"

Read their entire analysis here.

Illinois' Director of Insurance Michael McRaith expects the application process for Illinois' expanded "high-risk" health insurance pools to begin next month. Illinois residents rejected by health insurance providers due to "pre-existing conditions" should be ready to take action. As many as 218,000 Illinoisans could be eligible for just 4,000 to 6,000 new slots, which will be awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis.

It's important to remember that the expanded pool, while important, only represents a stop-gap solution to the problem of pre-existing conditions. In 2014, when the federal health care bill is fully implemented, insurance companies will be prohibited from denying insurance to anyone, regardless of their previous medical history. And those that can't afford private insurance on their own will be offered subsidies to purchase a plan offered on the new health insurance exchanges. That should eliminate the need for the existing state-based high-risk pools, which are limited in scope and charge notoriously high premiums.