Lake County Gazette

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the state's $42.9 billion 2021 fiscal year budget that a Republican said is not a balanced spending plan and fails to address the financial impact realized and unpredicted from COVID-19. 

"Although State revenues have fallen off the table during the COVID-19 pandemic and these lost revenues are expected to continue into FY21," Rep. Tom Weber (R-Fox Lake) posted to his website in mid-June, "the majority party made no significant cuts in the FY21 budget to help offset the loss in revenues." Illinois requires a balanced budget.

Weber said House Republican lawmakers voted against the spending plan and that their Democratic colleagues supported what he called a "borrow-and-spend budget." 

"Democrats made clear that they would rely on borrowing, including $1.2 billion in previously authorized emergency borrowing powers and up to $5 billion in borrowing from the U.S. Federal Reserve through the Municipal Liquidity Facility, a new financing avenue created by Congress in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic," The Republican representative said in his post. "This massive borrowing scheme was authorized ... as part of the overall budget package, in lieu of cuts to FY20 levels and despite budget exercises that GOMB asked state agencies to participate in last fall that would achieve budget savings of up to 6 percent at various agencies."