North Egypt News

In a Facebook post on April 9, Rep. Dave Severin (R-Marion) announced that he voted against the Democrats' proposed budget. The $46 billion plan, introduced after midnight on what was the final scheduled day of the spring 2022 session, was full of pork, he said.

“This feels like deja-vu all over again. Democrats waited until everyone was in bed, rushed through legislation that spends billions of dollars, raised their own pay, and put pork projects ahead of good public policy,” Severin said. “The Democrats’-only FY 23 budget leaves a hole in the unemployment insurance trust fund when we have been given the money by the federal government to pay back the debt. A responsible process would have lead to a more responsible budget, but that is not what we ended up with. At some point we have to think of the future and stop spending money we don’t have on things we don’t need. I voted no.”

The Chicago Tribune reported that the House of Representatives had voted on the $46.5 billion budget on April 9 just before 6 am. 

“Tonight, this morning, we passed a fiscally and socially responsible budget that responds to the needs of families across the state,” House Speaker Emmanuel Welch (D-Westchester) said after 6 a.m. Saturday.

NBC5 Chicago reported that the budget included the following elements: the 1% sales tax on groceries has been suspended, the state’s fuel tax has been frozen to 39 cents a gallon, homeowners will get up to $300 in rebates from property taxes and families will get checks from the state - $50 per individual and $100 per child.

“Illinoisans will benefit from $1 billion in tax relief at the pump, in the supermarket checkout and in their property tax bills,” Pritzker said outside his state Capitol office.

Severin isn't the only Republican legislator who has issues with the budget. 

“We can ... do the earned income tax credit increase that the governor proposed on a permanent basis,” said Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet), according to The Chicago Tribune, “not election-year gimmicks, not designed to go away after the election is over, but on a permanent basis for the people of Illinois.”