All the while, regular people are being destroyed.
Our government is not serious about tough, necessary choices.
My official statement:
EFFINGHAM, IL – The Democrat majority rammed through a budget more than $5 billion out of balance and offered no reforms or long-term solutions to the state’s financial problems, according to State Rep. Blaine Wilhour (R-Beecher City), who voted against the budget legislation.
Below is Rep. Wilhour’s statement on the FY 2021 Budget.
“First this budget gives the Governor unprecedented power as the Legislature is not really approving a budget but rather slapping something together and giving it to the Governor administer. The Democrat leaders in the House and the Senate have sat on the sidelines during the pandemic crisis and this joke of a budget follows this trend.
In addition, the budget provides pay raises for legislators – again. While 1 million workers in Illinois have filed for unemployment (many of them still struggling to get their claims resolved thanks to the incompetence of the Governor), the Democrat majority is voting pay raises for themselves.
The assumed revenue for the coming Fiscal Year is $37 billion. The appropriated spending in the budget is $39.7 billion. Total overall spending is around $42.6 billion, which means the FY 2021 Budget has a deficit of $5.6 billion.
This is what is known as Springfield math. We are required by law to have a balanced budget but only in Springfield can a budget with a $5.6 billion shortfall be considered ‘balanced.’
Of course, who needs to worry about budget deficits when all you have to do is borrow $5 billion from the Federal Reserve which is what the Democrat majority have decided to do.
The lack of spending reform is an affront to taxpayers in Illinois. Indiana had a budget surplus going into the pandemic. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb’s response to the budget shortfalls due to the lockdown of our economy was to call on state agencies to cut their budgets by 15 percent. That is real leadership. Here in Illinois, there is a void of leadership. Our leaders are like spoiled children who keep going back to their parents to get more money to pay for their irresponsible choices. It is time for our leaders to stop acting like children and govern this state responsibly.
To make matters worse, the Governor, along with the complicit Democrat majority in the Legislature, did nothing to accelerate the reopening of our economy. One would think that with a $5 billion budget deficit reopening businesses would be a high priority. That would be logical. Instead, the priority is more spending, more borrowing and more payoffs for political insiders and election bills to help make it easier for Democrats to win elections.
The sobering realities of the COVID-19 pandemic should serve as a reminder of the need for the state to get its financial house in order. Instead of working on ways to bring down huge cost drivers such as pensions, the Democrats decided the best use of their time was to pass legislation making it easier for them steal elections. Their focus is on maintaining their power – not fixing the financial problems facing our state.
The Democrat majority is running our state into the ground. It is time for Illinois residents to recognize what is happening and get involved. Complacency is only going to make the problems worse. Most of us do not have the means or the ability to just up and leave. It is up to the people of this state to take a stand and save our state because if they don’t – we won’t have anything left to save.”
The policy of the American government is to leave their citizens free, neither restraining nor aiding them in their pursuits. -Thomas Jefferson
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