Prairie State Wire

Senator and gubernatorial  Darren Bailey (R-Louisville) argued the state budget proposal has too much for special interests and was pushed through the Legislature too quickly. He posted his speech from the Senate opposing the budget on Facebook.

"This'll be my fourth budget that I've participated in since coming here to Springfield. Here we are again: another year, another enormous budget dropped on us at the last minute," Bailey said in the video. "Full of promises and pork spending and who knows what else? I'm tired of this body selling out taxpayers to special interests and dropping pork-filled budgets created behind closed doors with over 3200 pages, hours before asking legislators to vote for it."

Bailey criticized the governor for the effect his COVID mandates had on Illinois families.

"You cannot argue that this body should have stood up and helped working families when our governor was unilaterally locking down our state and decimating our economy, but sadly, most of the people here did absolutely nothing," Bailey said. "We have Illinoisans across the state who don't feel safe, but instead of supporting law enforcement, many of you sold them out to push extreme policies that prioritize criminals over hardworking police officers who put their lives on the line to protect us every day."

Bailey said the budget should focus on working people instead of special interests.

"We must aggressively pursue real job-creating investments in our poor urban areas and rural communities destroyed by poor public policy in this state," Bailey said. "It's time that we put an end to this nonsense of passing pork-filled budgets full of unread pages and empty promises and it's time that we stand up for working people that you continually ask to carry the load for your woke, unrealistic agendas. I'm voting no and I ask that anyone who values transparency and accountability join me."

The $46.5 billion budget passed the House on the morning of April 9 with a 72-42 vote,  hours after it passed the Senate with a vote of 34-19. 

NBC5 Chicago reported that the budget included the following elements: a suspension of the state's 1% sales tax on groceries through July 1, 2023; the state's fuel tax will be frozen at 39 cents per gallon through Jan. 1, 2023; the earned income tax credit will be expanded, and homeowners will get up to $300 in rebates from their property taxes; also, families will get checks from the state - $50 per individual and $100 per child.