Metro East Sun

Former House candidate Mike Babcock (R-Bethalto) would like to see state government do more to help stabilize the state as the coranavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc.

“I think they’re doing everything they can at the federal level,” Babcock told the Metro East Sun. “I know this is all foreign ground for all of us, but, yeah, I think it might be time for the state to do a little bit more.”

While Babcock admitted at this point he isn’t sure what that means, he added he’s keeping a close watch on developments stemming from a letter a group of GOP lawmakers recently sent to Gov. J.B. Pritzker calling on him to freeze the state’s minimum wage and unemployment insurance rates for at least the next year to help more small business owners to rebound from the crisis. 

Republican state representatives Allen Skillicorn (East Dundee), Blaine Wilhour (Beecher City), Chris Miller (Oakland), Darren Bailey (Xenia), Dan Caulkins (Decatur) and John Cabello (Machesney Park) all recently signed off on the letter, reported the Center Square. The Pritzker administration has not issued a public response to the letter.

“Down here in this area, unemployment claims are normally somewhere around 400 claims, but last week that number soared to more than 41,000,” Babcock said. “So, yeah, it’s clear we’ve got to come up with something to slow that trend.”

From the very beginning, Babcock said he’s preached that nothing can really be expected to change until authorities are able to get a handle on the virus itself.

“The single biggest factor in us getting back to normal life is finding a way to flatten the curve of infections,” he said. “We’ve got to slow the virus and solve the problem...before we can move on to getting people back to work.”