Jacksonville State Representative C.D. Davidsmeyer is reacting to the 40-billion-dollar budget plan pushed in the House by Democrats yesterday.
Davidsmeyer says the budget is $7-billion out of balance. He says the majority of lawmakers want compromise.
“The majority leader even said at one point, that compromise would be a disservice to the people of the State of Illinois, which is completely ridiculous,” says Davidsmeyer.
“Unfortunately, yesterday was, I think, once again, the majority party saying, ‘We’re going to send the governor a budget, then we can go home and pretend like we actually passed a budget.’ Instead of going the other way and saying ‘We understand that we have a revenue of $32-to-$33 billion, they went and said, ‘Oh, well, I guess if we’re going to pass an unbalanced budget, why not do $40 billion?’ I’m surprised it wasn’t $50 billion, actually.”
Davidsmeyer says he wasn’t part of a group of lawmakers put together by the four leaders in the House and Senate, and the governor, to work on the budget. House Minority Leader Jim Durkin yesterday said this budget is a “slap in the face” to them.
Davidsmeyer says he was part of a separate group that explored budget options on its own.
He says lawmakers had two hours to look at a 5-hundred page budget yesterday before voting.
“Eventually, reality’s gotta set in. The people of Illinois have to understand that if they ever want services to work, they have to actually be funded, and so, there’s realistic people out there that know there’s ways to reform different programs,” he says.
“There’s ways to make changes to ensure that our pensions are paid for, but they’re not burdening each year’s budget. I would look at extending out the payment cycle on those, and making sure that we can fund all of the promises that have been made.”
Governor Rauner’s administration says the plan would also require an income tax hike. The governor has already said he’ll veto the measure, but the Senate has to vote on it first.