Illinois Valley Times

The more time lawmakers spent in Springfield for their hastily called special session, the longer state Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris) said her list for not supporting the $42 billion budget Democrats ultimately rammed through seemed to grow.

"The budget spends nearly $43 billion and relies heavily on massive borrowing and hope that the federal government will bail the state out with another stimulus package, which is no guarantee,” Rezin told the Illinois Valley Times. “This partisan budget also gave the governor unfettered control over how the state spends federal COVID-19 relief funds.”

The plan that now awaits the signature of Gov. J.B. Pritzker and would go into effect on July 1 also calls for lawmakers to borrow as much as $5 billion from the federal government, which legislators hope will eventually be repaid with funds allocated from Washington.

Still, Rezin argues the biggest affront of all may revolve around the $1,800 pay hike lawmakers granted themselves at a time when much of the state remains on some level of lockdown stemming from the stay-at-home order Pritzker enacted more than two months ago.

Over the last several weeks, the state’s unemployment rate has reached never before seen levels – 16.4 percent as of May 22 – as countless people have been forced to apply for benefits.

“Lawmakers send the wrong type of message to their constituents by passing a pay increase during a global pandemic," Rezin said.

As resistance to his stay-at-home order has grown among frustrated residents, Pritzker recently threatened to withhold federal funding from counties that seek to reopen their economies before his executive order dictates. More recently, he vowed to involve police in instances where small business owners defied his order by reopening prior to the timeline he has outlined.