Official Statement
“Today, the Illinois House passed the largest spending budget in state history. While this budget holds the line on some spending, it also increases spending in new areas that have never been funded before.
Currently the state’s bill backlog is $6.6 billion and our pension debt exceeds $130 billion. This budget does not fully fund our pension payment, based on hopes that pensioners will take a buyout option instead of their pension.
I find it very interesting that so many politicians were diametrically opposed to the tax increase, yet they rush to spend every penny with no thought of paying the State’s backlog of bills.
It is irresponsible to continue down this road without a plan for the future.
Included in this budget is a supplemental appropriation for the Department of Corrections that is sorely needed. Unfortunately, this just adds $850 million to the stack of old bills without actually paying for it. That money could have been taken from this coming year’s expected revenue.
Many people made a difficult decision last year on taxes to ensure that we pay our bills. This budget does nothing to ensure those bills are paid.
I cannot support a budget that includes no cuts, continues to under-fund pensions and does nothing to pay down old bills. That is why I voted ‘No’ on today’s FY19 Budget legislation.”