SPRINGFIELD – 118th District State Representative Paul Jacobs (R-Pomona) says Illinois is on track to spend more money than it takes in if the General Assembly adopts Governor JB Pritzker’s proposed budget. The Governor delivered a combined Budget and State of the State speech to a joint Session of the General Assembly on Wednesday.
“I heard a lot of promises to spend big money on new programs today, but I can’t help but notice that revenues are going down,” Jacobs said. “This is not a sustainable way of budgeting. What small business or family budget can sustain spending more than they’re taking in? There may be some laudable goals and programs that are worth looking at, but the basic financial principle that you can’t spend more than you’re taking in should be the basis for budget making in Illinois.”
Major spending increases by area include:
• $572 million to preK-12 Education
• $219 million to Higher Education
• $224 million to Public Safety
• $912 million to Human Services
• $709 million to Healthcare/Medicaid
“The people I serve are demanding inflation relief, electricity rate relief, and relief at the gas pump. The people I serve are demanding tax relief. We have to ease the financial burden on working families and stop the runaway spending that has caused inflation in the first place,” Jacobs said. “I am strongly in favor of a line-by-line review of the Governor’s proposal. The right place to do this review is in the appropriations committees in the House and Senate. A speech is just a speech. Now it’s time to get to work to ensure we are responsibly spending the peoples’ money, and not obligating our state to programs that we won’t be able to afford in the future.”
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