Metro East Sun

Former Republican state House candidate Mike Babcock shudders to think what passage of the state’s new $42 billion budget could really mean.

“There’s at least a $5 billion shortfall and then they’re borrowing another $5 billion from the government to make these work,” Babcock told the Metro East Sun. “What that tells me is they’re going to tax us even more to help pay for all this.”

The plan that Democrats passed over a four-day special session and that Gov. J.B. Pritzker is almost certain to sign into law heavily relies on federal funding to plug holes made deeper by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The loan that Babcock makes reference to is a $5 billion advance, also from the federal government.

“It’s the kind of thing that happens when you have one-party rule the way we have for too long in Springfield,” Babcock, a Bethalto resident, added. “The representatives down here (Katie Stuart and Monica Bristow) got a pass on voting in favor of this but only after Democrats knew they had enough votes coming from Chicago to make this pass anyway. It was all part of the plan.”

Babcock argues the same can be said of the $1,800 pay increase legislators carved out for themselves as part of the package.

“It’s almost unconscionable that they would do something like that when so many people in this state are struggling and our whole economy is in a mess,” he said. “Adding more debt like this is beyond just being reckless.

In the end, Babcock said it all can be attributed to the whims of the same man.

“Everyone knows that (House Speaker) Mike Madigan is the real governor of Illinois,” he said. “Whatever he sets in motion, pretty much becomes a done deal.”