West Cook News

Governor J.B. Pritzker recently signed a $50.6 billion budget, and while he champions the move by being an improvement over previous governors, Republican lawmakers are criticizing the signage for a variety of reasons.

According to a report by Center Square on June 7, state Rep. Mike Marron (R-Fithan) had harsh words for the governor and Democratic lawmakers. Concerns are reportedly raising the pay of state legislators by five percent, having health care for undocumented migrants and having new educational programs funded by taxpayers.

"I think the amount of money that the Democrats have understated fairly significantly is going to undocumented immigrants," Marron told The Center Square. "I think it's a problem. I think they have mixed up priorities.”

Pritzker introduced the budget and while it was widely praised by Democrats, it had no Republican approval in the House and Senate votes. He has been traveling the state to gain support for the budget signing. It includes setting aside $200 million extra in pension payments, $250 million to fund the first year of Smart Illinois and at least $80 million for additional affordable housing.

The annual cost of living increase for state lawmakers is five percent capped, or the inflation rate, whichever is lower. The increase in the pay was set for legislators at five and a half percent but was vetoed by Pritzker and brought down to a five percent increase due to the cap on COLAs. Marron told The Center Square that his pay has increased from $67,000 to $89,000 since 2018, and he was worried about this creating a bad precedent for people getting into politics for the wrong reasons.

Despite that Illinois pays some of the highest tax rates, Pritzker said that it's another step in getting the state back in the right direction after years of chaos preceding him.

“From the beginning, I promised to work together with the General Assembly to restore fiscal responsibility to our state government after years of mismanagement,” Pritzker said. “Thanks to our firmer fiscal foundation, we have been able to put billions of dollars back into the pockets of Illinois taxpayers while investing in our future.”