All 11 Democratic congressmen from Illinois have signed a letter to Gov. Bruce Rauner demanding that he restore funding to domestic violence shelters.
Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Rock Island, initiated the letter, which was sent Friday, after an Associated Press report showed that funding for a domestic-violence program was omitted from a temporary budget last summer.
The Department of Human Services waited nearly six months to alert providers.
Bustos is serving her third term in the U.S House and is considering opposing Rauner for governor in 2018.
Illinois Human Services spokeswoman Meredith Krantz called the letter "hyper-partisan" and unhelpful.
She says the authors should urge Democrats and Republicans in Springfield to agree on a budget solution. The state has had been without a budget for nearly two years.
The fiscal 2018 budget that Rauner proposed this week includes full program funding at $18.6 million.
