Prairie State Wire

House Republicans want the right to discuss and vote on Governor J.B. Pritzker's Restore Illinois plan, saying he has overstepped his authority in issuing orders without giving the legislature a say.

Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield) said at a press conference that the General Assembly must be allowed take an up or down vote on Pritzker's plan.

"I sent a letter to the governor on Monday about this," Butler said. "I have yet to hear anything back."

He said on Republicans sent a framework to the governor May 4 regarding reopening plans.

"He didn’t give us any heads up on his plan, even though Leader (Jim) Durkin had reached out to him about that very thing," Butler said. "It was a good framework. It was based off of the ideas that we formulated from the House Republican Caucus."

Rep. Butler also said the framework created more regions across the state and included more input from local residents and health departments.

"The media reported Illinois has the most restrictions in the nation during the pandemic," he said. "We’ve been on lockdown since March 21. We’re one of the first to go on lockdown and have the most restrictions in place."

The legislator said when the House asks for a vote, it's because lawmakers believe the General Assembly should be heard on pressing matters.

"We’ve had no voice in this," Butler said. "We don’t believe his Restore Illinois plan is right. We need to have more input for individuals, the General Assembly and overall."

He said he doesn't think Democrats will agree with them.

"I personally don’t believe they want a vote on this because they’ll be put on record," Butler said. "I think that’s why we need to see an up or down vote on this. The governor has said repeatedly that he doesn’t think the legislature should be involved. This just proves he’s doing this on his own and not looking for input from a coequal branch of government."

Rep. Dan Brady (R-Bloomington) said Illinois is a unique state, and that from top to bottom each region is very different.

"We need a much more localized approach based on data and decisions made by local officials," Brady said.

He said his constituents want the ability to safely reopen.

"My constituents want to reopen and they want to do it in a safe manner," Brady said. "I believe that together we can get that done."

He also said Republicans want the chance to work on a solution.

"We’re willing to work with the governor to get that done," Brady said.

Rep. Ryan Spain (R-Peoria) said Peoria sent the governor a reopening plan but have not received feedback.

"We’re using the data," Spain said. "We're listening to scientists and epidemiologists."

He said Peoria should be able to reopening at this point.

"The metrics have been met and exceeded in our region for more than 30 days now," the Representative said.

He said while every region in the state looks different, workers are frustrated.

"We see the frustration of business owners, of childcare workers and of restaurant owners," Spain said. "We want to continue to battle coronavirus and rebuild the economy in a safe and responsible way."

He also said legislators are calling on the governor to let municipalities do that.

"We're calling for a vote," Spain said.

House Rep. Mike Marron (R-Fithian) said he's been fielding many calls from constituents regarding the state's unemployment office.

"For well over a month now I’ve been dealing with the unacceptable situation with the Illinois unemployment system," Marron said. "I've been helping constituents to get relief promised to them by the state."

He said so many people are enduring financial hardship and those dealing with the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) have encountered many problems.

"The people hurt the most were living paycheck to paycheck and each day they grow more and more frustrate with IDES," Marron said. 

The lawmaker also said small businesses are hurting.

"I don’t know of any small business — no matter how successful — can go through two entire months without any revenue," Marron said. "Yet, they followed the governor’s rules because they believed they were doing the right thing. But, they still have not seen any relief."

He said this is absolutely unacceptable.

"We are two months into this and still most calls I get in a day involve the failure of IDES," Marron said. "IDES' failure is shocking and I’ve had enough of the governor not taking this issue seriously."

Representative Marron also said that the governor has put many businesses in an unfortunate and desperate situation.

"Some of these businesses will never open up again," he said. "The idea that he thinks we have to choose between saving lives and saving businesses is absurd."