Metro East Sun

Despite Gov. Pritzker stating his proposed budget would be $1.8 billion less than the previous fiscal year, many, including State Sen. Steve McClure (R-Springfield), has said it is unbalanced.

“The general funds budget I present today for the Fiscal Year 2022 spends $1.8 billion less than FY2021,” the governor said. “It reflects $400 million in additional cuts to appropriations, a hiring freeze, flat operational spending, full required pension payments, and the closure of unaffordable corporate loopholes. All in all, it reduces spending to meet projected revenues.”

But to McClure, this does not reflect a truly balanced budget.

“Our finances are still a mess,” McClure said. “Obviously the effects of the pandemic have made our fiscal situation much worse. Last year, the state budget was severely unbalanced. This proposal is about $1.7 billion out of balance. We need a legitimate balanced budget.”

McClure says the budget will hurt businesses.

“Instead, the Governor has again proposed to try and balance the budget on the backs of businesses and their employees through tax increases that haven’t yet passed,” he continued. “The people of Illinois deserve better. I do remain hopeful that the General Assembly will be able to work together to put forward a more responsible budget through a transparent process that helps grow our state, gets people back to work.”

“We got to do something about this crisis and we got to do it the right way.”