Another Bad Budget Deal For Chicago

CHICAGO - The Chicago Transit Authority is stuck between a rock and a hard place, over-promising on an expensive, overly ambitious project that is now more than $2 BILLION over budget, all of it on the taxpayers dime. With no clear explanation for the ballooning costs, it sure seems like the Chicago Transit Authority is moving ahead on a terrible decision that will harm Chicago for decades. 

See for yourself:

FIRST: Construction of the Red Line Extension is scheduled to begin in 2026, funded in part by $2 billion in federal dollars. The Chicago Transit Authority announced its poor decision to finance the project with bonds, which will take decades to pay off.

THEN: The project’s price tag has exploded by BILLIONS of dollars

NOW: Chicago taxpayers are being asked to shoulder an additional $3.77 billion to try and fund one of “the most expensive transit projects in the world.”

Can we expect Democrats like Raja Krishnamoorthi and Juliana Stratton to make the same kinds of budget blunders in Washington that they’ve supported here in Illinois?