Rep. Tom Demmer | Facebook
Rep. Tom Demmer | Facebook
State Rep. Tom Demmer (R-Dixon), critical of Gov. Pritzker’s budget proposal, said that the governor “ignored spending realities and kicked the can down the road.”
He said that the state’s financial difficulties are not only due to the pandemic.
“The financial challenges that the state of Illinois face did not begin during COVID, they’re not solely the result of the pandemic that has caused so many challenges and hardships for families and businesses across the state of Illinois.”
Demmer further criticized the proposal saying that Pritzker should have not taken short-sighted steps to increase taxes on local businesses and eliminate job-creation incentives.
He also questioned details on reductions the governor has previously asked in 2019 and another in 2020 noting that there has been no mention of these during the address.
According to Demmer, the governor, during “last fall in 2020 asked agency directors and department heads to again identify five percent in cuts that would be implemented in this budget; but again no results have come from those groups. We’ve asked time and time again that we’d be given that information and that the legislature be able to consider those options, but none of those suggestions have been shared with us.”
Demmer reminds the governor that “Republicans in both the House and the Senate are ready to engage through appropriation committee meetings but we demand transparency.”
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