Illinois Senate Republican Leader John Curran (R-Downers Grove) released the following statement in response to Governor Pritzker’s signing of the Illinois FY24 Budget.
“We negotiated in good faith, and as a result, there are some joint priorities in this budget, specifically to support the developmentally disabled and invest in education.
“Unfortunately, these positives pale in comparison to the Governor’s insistence on Illinois being the only state in the nation to provide no-strings-attached health care for non-citizens at a cost of $1.1 billion. The budget assumes the Governor will slash the cost of the program in half and provide no raises in A.F.S.C.M.E contract negotiations, among other gimmicks, in order to appear balanced on paper. This is simply not true.
“The Governor’s choice to pay for this entirely state-funded free health care program for undocumented people over any meaningful investment in our business community highlights the stark contrast between our priorities. “From energy rate and property tax relief to the full phase-out of the franchise tax that was already promised and taken away by Gov. Pritzker, Senate Republican initiatives for growing jobs and job creators were ignored in favor of more social spending. It is alarming to me, and job creators everywhere, that the largest budget in Illinois history does not even attempt to improve our business climate at a time when so many people are leaving our state.”