Inside:
- State budget details now known
- More news coming next week
State budget details now known
In what has become a sad and unfortunate habit, this year’s Illinois state budget was once again crafted behind closed doors and only revealed to the public at the last minute, with just hours to review it before it is voted upon. This is not the way to spend the taxpayers’ money.
After five months in session in Springfield, we got our first look at the state budget late yesterday, less than 24 hours ago. The bill is over 3000 pages long and spends $55.2 billion, the most expensive spending bill in Illinois history. It will require hundreds of millions of dollars in tax increases to pay for all the spending.
The budget includes hundreds of millions of dollars in pork projects in Democratic legislative districts, and it continues to fund health benefits for those in the country illegally, albeit at a reduced level from past years. It also has yet another pay raise for politicians.
Governor Pritzker and legislative Democrats are continuing the pattern of spending money we don’t have and doing so on the backs of working people.
Because this bill will make your taxes higher while increasing state spending, I voted No.
More news coming next week
The spring session of the General Assembly will adjourn for the summer later tonight. There was a lot of action taken on multiple issues during the final days. I will have a more thorough roundup of the closing days of session in next week’s newsletter.
Thank you for reading and for sharing your questions, comments and ideas.