"People's needs are not arbitrary. He fails to recognize that his inaction is placing a severe hardship on real people with real needs, some of whom already are suffering from the devastating loss of a loved one to war," Hynes said. "His insensitivity is beyond description. He needs to set his personal agenda aside for the benefit of the people and stop playing politics with people's lives."

Hynes said the spending bill, approved by the Legislature in May, would provide more than $7.7 million in payments to families of soldiers killed in Iraq and other military conflicts. The bill has been languishing on the Governor’s desk for nearly two months.

That supplemental spending bill also includes $1.2 billion for hospitals who treat Medicaid patients, $3.3 million for cost-of-living increases for individuals who work with family services, victims of domestic violence and rape, and $150 million for school construction grants, to name just a few of the programs in the bill.

"If he finds portions of the spending bill objectionable, he can strike those, but he shouldn’t hold up the rest of these payments, creating more victims in this dangerous game of chicken he's playing with the Legislature," Hynes said.

Hynes also warned the Governor not to delay action on a FY08 budget once the Legislature approves a spending plan for the new fiscal year, as he has on the supplemental spending bill.

"School districts and Illinoisans who count on state services and payments should not be held hostage because the Governor is not getting his way," Hynes said. "While legally he has 60 days to act on the budget, he has an obligation to the people of this state to keep government operating and to keep payments flowing to those who need the money."

Hynes last week warned that if a temporary or permanent budget was not approved by August 8, $170 million in state aid payments to school districts and state employee paychecks could be delayed.