State Representative Amy Grant (R-Wheaton) issued the following statement in response to Governor Pritzker’s fiscal year 2022 Budget Address:
“Once again the Governor is ignoring the Constitutional requirement to balance the state budget against expected state revenues,” said Grant. “After record-high spending in his first two state budgets, even adding to state debt during the pandemic, his proposal is out of balance by $1.6 billion. That means adding to the state’s $4.7 billion unpaid bill backlog, $4.3 billion in short-term debt and $141 billion in unfunded pension liabilities. Even worse, he is adding nearly $1 billion in tax increases on small businesses and job creators that are struggling to stay afloat amid COVID-19 by going back on bipartisan agreements from 2019. Including a sales tax exemption on biofuels to promote clean energy jobs. Most troubling, however, he is once again going after scholarships for low-income students.
“After a year of business closures, job losses, IDES failure and the tragic deaths of our veterans, we heard nothing today about how his budget works for the people who have been so wrecked by state governments response to COVID-19. At the end of the day, it is Illinois families that will be hurt the most by his reckless approach to governing and his failure to honor his commitments.”