Metro East Sun

Rep. Avery Bourne (R-Litchfield) is hoping more people come to see Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s new fiscal year budget for what she believes it to be.

Bourne, now running for lieutenant governor on the same ticket as gubernatorial candidate Richard Irvin, took her grievances with the budget to Facebook

“It's full of countless one-time election-year gimmicks and new spending programs in an attempt to win over voters. There's not a single permanent solution to our financial issues. Let's take our state back from this nonsense.”

Pritzker has a more positive outlook on the budget.

"We end this legislative session with enormous and historic victories for the people of Illinois: Gas, grocery, and property tax relief, more support for local government than ever before, a massive improvement in staffing for our nursing home residents, short and long term debt reduction, and a balanced budget for the fourth year in a row," he said, according to NBC 5. 

Bourne isn't the only Republican lawmaker opposing the governor’s budget.

"Taxpayers deserve accountability here in Springfield,” state Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Louisville), now seeking the GOP nomination for governor, told NBC 5. “We must focus on fixing our fiscal mess and instituting sustainable spending reforms that prioritize middle class and working-class people over corporations and special interests.”

With Pritzker’s plan in place, residents across the state could see changes that include the sales tax on groceries being suspended through July 1, 2023; the fuel tax being frozen at 39 cents per gallon until Jan. 1, 2023 and homeowners receiving as much as $300 in property tax rebates. In addition, the earned income tax will be expanded.

Bailey says lawmakers weren't given enough opportunity to study the bill.

“That’ll be the fourth budget that I’ve participated in since coming here to Springfield,” he told the East Central Reporter. “Here we are again: another year, another enormous budget dropped on us at the last minute. Full of promises and pork spending and who knows what else. I agree with tax cuts. I agree with supporting law enforcement. I agree with helping struggling families, but I will never agree with budgets being voted on by legislators who haven't read the bill."

Bailey said special interest groups are the biggest winners resulting from Pritzker’s plan.

"It’s time that we put an end to this nonsense of passing pork-filled budgets full of unread pages and empty promises and it’s time that we stand up for working people that you continually ask to carry the load for your woke unrealistic agendas," Bailey said from the Senate floor. "I’m voting no and I ask that anyone who values transparency and accountability join me.”