Prairie State Wire

Before the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill was signed into law, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) said that Republicans are not supporting the bill, despite Democrats supporting coronavirus relief that Republicans wanted last year, WCMY 1430 reported.

“Then the tables turned on Jan. 20 when a new president came into town,” Durbin said. “And Joe Biden said ‘let me finish this and do it effectively. Give me an American Rescue Plan.’ How many Republicans considered, stood up and said ‘well since the Democrats in the spirit of responding to this pandemic came around and supported the Trump plan last year, we’ll do the same this year,’ the number, zero.”

Durbin also told WCMY that it is important to extend benefits in anticipation of unemployment insurance being depleted.

In an Chicago Tribun Op-ed, State Representative Tom Demmer (R-Dixon) suggested that “The state’s share of these new federal funds should be used for three key purposes: to deliver financial support to Illinois families and businesses, to pay off short-term debt and to reduce our backlog of unpaid bills.”

“If we use the federal money as a magic budget bailout, we’ll find ourselves right back in the crumbling condition Illinoisans have known for far too long,” Demmer said.