Prairie State Wire

Given an approximate $5.8 billion in backlogged bills as of Monday, there might not be enough resources to cover them all.

Within the $1.9 trillion spending plan the Senate passed, there would be $7.5 billion that can be allotted for the state budget, the Capitol Fax reported.

Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza posted on Facebook that she and the governor agreed that the federal dollars Illinois is expected to acquire will be prioritized to pay back recently borrowed federal funds. She recently shared Sen. Dick Durbin's post on the amounts that the state will be getting.

“Thank you, Senators! Just a reminder as the stimulus bill passed by the U.S. Senate returns to the House for final approval, Governor JB Pritzker and I have agreed that any stimulus coming to Illinois will first go to pay back the money Illinois borrowed from the Federal Reserve to pay our bills,” Mendoza said.

The state is poised to get $275 million for vaccine distribution, $1.5 billion for our local health departments, $5 billion to help reopen our schools, and $13.2 billion in aid to our state and local governments, according to Durbin.

Illinois has borrowed approximately $3 billion from federal programs during the pandemic which must be paid back over the next few years.