Metro East Sun

State Rep. Amy Elik (R-Fosterburg) joined her fellow Republican lawmakers in calling for a bipartisan solution to corruption and other fiscal issues hounding the state of Illinois.

Elik blames the Democratic-controlled legislature for causing reform snags.

“When we took the oath of office on Jan. 13 of this year it was a historic moment,” Elik said. “The House of Representatives elected a new Speaker of the House who pledged to be open and accessible, so we can all ‘work together to solve the very serious issues in this state.’ Here we are with 45 days until session adjournment and the Democrat-controlled legislature has failed to put forth any meaningful or substantive legislation dealing with fighting corruption, providing tax relief and unfortunately no plan put forth to adopt a balanced budget.”

Elik’s sentiment is shared by many of her Republican colleagues in the House who are blaming the Democrats for delaying work on instilling reforms in the legislature.

“In January, the Democrats demanded new leadership,” Elik continued. “They were tired of the status quo of one man controlling the chamber with his House rules. They demanded new House rules and committed to a new way of governing the chamber. Yet we saw those house rules barely change in ink.”

She also cited the vast discrepancy of Democratic and Republican bills approved in the House.

"House Democrats broke their promise of working together and went back to their old ways of doing business by voting to suspend their own rules in order to adopt nearly 300 bills on the consent calendar,” she said. “Of which 73% of the bills approved on the consent calendar were bills sponsored by Democrats and only 27% of the bills were sponsored by Republicans. Even more astonishing is the fact that out of 697 bills passed out of committee 82% of the bills were sponsored by Democrats with only 18% of the bill sponsored by Republicans."

With the state of Illinois being named as the second-most corrupt state in America, leaving the state economy with a hefty price tag of $550 million every year, Elik echoed the urgent need for  Democratic lawmakers to start showing sincerity in their vow of working with Republican lawmakers by starting to pass bills authored by Republicans.