Two of the Illinois State Senators whose districts includes parts of our immediate area are not completely pleased with the state budget their chamber sent to the Illinois House over the weekend – one less pleased than the other.
Democrat State Senator Mike Halpin of Rock Island says there’s one new area of funding he likes a lot.
“For the first time in over a decade, we’re funding veterans’ grants,” said Halpin. “We’re making sure our universities are reimbursed for the work they do to recruit our service members to their institutions, and starting to repay the debt to them that can never be fully repaid.”
Halpin says, however, higher education is still not adequately funded, which will mean more college students lost to other states. He says that’s not the only area of concern regarding education funding.
Meanwhile, Andalusia State Senator Neil Anderson, a Republican, calls the budget one where Illinois residents are treated like “second-class citizens,” given how he claims the state wants to support undocumented immigrants.
“(There is) over a billion dollars in new taxes on the middle class, and over a billion dollars in spending for illegal immigrants,” said Anderson. “This is just one more example of misplaced priorities by the Democrats.”
The Andalusia Republican says the state doesn’t have a revenue problem, given he claims Illinois is one of the highest-taxed states in the nation. He says the left has a out of control spending problem – which he alleges has increased 32 percent since Governor J.B. Pritzker took office.
Some Democrats say they don’t like parts of the budget either, but they dispute claims by the GOP that essential services for state residents are being cut.