State Senator Jason Plummer (R-Edwardsville) released the below statement following Senate passage of budget legislation.
“This was a budget process that made very clear the priorities of the two parties. We advocated for priorities that benefit all of Illinois, like funding services for our state’s most vulnerable citizens, protecting an important scholarship program for children in failing schools to get a better education, relief for families struggling to pay their electric bills, improvements to our business climate to help grow jobs, and help for our family farms.
“The majority party refused, and instead, they handed us a budget that did not fully fund our hospitals, but provides hundreds of millions of dollars for free gold-plated healthcare for people who aren’t even citizens, hundreds of millions more in pork projects just for Democratic districts, and a 400-million-dollar slush fund for the Governor to give to businesses that align with him politically. Worse yet, this budget isn’t even close to being balanced. “The truth is that the people of Illinois don’t need a Democratic budget, they don’t need a Republican budget, they need a budget that works for everyone in Illinois. What they got instead is unacceptable, it’s embarrassing, and it’s shameful.”