Oakland – This afternoon, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker gave his annual State of the State Address from the Illinois Capitol. State Representative Chris Miller issued the following statement in response:
This afternoon, Governor Pritzker rattled on endlessly about his great success as Governor. Despite the rosy spin he attempted to put on it, however, very little in this state has changed for Illinois families and businesses – except for perhaps their neighbors and customers fleeing at a record pace.
None of his ideas were anything anyone hasn’t seen before. This being an election year, he pitched a lot of budget gimmicks like temporary tax cuts and property tax rebates. But none of those tricks will actually do anything to help Illinois solve its budget problems. We know that what the state needs is structural reform to its major systems – including the pension system and Medicaid. Governor Pritzker and the majority caucus know it too. They just don’t have the will to do anything about it. Without that, there is no point in talking about temporary cuts. He is only delaying the pain.
The problem is the people of Illinois also know it. That’s why Illinois’ economy has lost $31.4 billion. People can’t move out fast enough. Over 250,000 jobs that existed in 2019 are gone.
Governor Pritzker touted the state’s upgraded credit rating. It’s nothing to brag about. Illinois is still rated far lower than any other state in the nation. And the upgrade was due to an influx of federal Covid relief money, not because of anything that the governor did.
Governor Pritzker is very proud of the way he handled COVID. He must be delusional. Twenty-three months of unilateral emergency orders, lockdowns and mandates haven’t worked. Illinois has more deaths from COVID than almost any other state.
Governor Pritzker claimed he has kept us safe. Nope. Not only did he not keep us safe from COVID. Violent crime has sky-rocketed in Chicago and across Illinois.
No one in my district is buying what Governor Pritzker is selling. His budget does nothing to address the state’s biggest problems, he thinks now is the time to spend big on liberal pet projects while undercutting our police. Other states are actively courting Illinois businesses because we have shown no economic strength, and the governor’s budget spells out ‘sucker’ in semaphore. If his goal is to permanently cripple the state’s economy, saddle the next generation with crippling debt and drive out any one with a lick of sense, his budget follows the right recipe.
