Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s next budget is facing early backlash from Republicans concerned that it won’t be a balanced spending plan. | Courtesy Photo
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s next budget is facing early backlash from Republicans concerned that it won’t be a balanced spending plan. | Courtesy Photo
As Gov. JB Pritzker’s annual budget message nears, Republican House leadership said that the executive branch must deliver a balanced budget.
Republicans criticized the adopted budget in May for the current fiscal year because it counted on an aid package from the federal government and a constitutional amendment allowing for a graduated income tax to make ends meet, WSIU NPR reported. Those never materialized, and the state was left with a gaping deficit. Pritzker’s budget allocated $42.9 billion in general spending.
“The Illinois Constitution cannot be more clear about the responsibilities of the executive branch,” House Minority Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) said, WSIU NPR reported. “Article 8, Section 2 and 2(b) say that the governor presents a budget that must balance spending with estimated revenue available for that fiscal year. Estimated revenue, not wishful thinking.”
The shortfall could exceed $1 billion in the current fiscal year, even after attempts by the governor to backtrack. Late last year, the governor arranged for $700 million in spending reductions and announced plans to borrow $2 billion through the Federal Reserve’s Municipal Liquidity Facility.
Because of the COVID-19 crisis, Illinois budget legislators handed over unprecedented authority to the executive branch to move and allocate funding, Deputy Minority Leader Tom Demmer (R-Dixon) said.
“Last year, the state was on the receiving end of billions of dollars from the federal government, and again, it was programs that were overseen by the administration through emergency rules and through an unprecedented level of appropriation authority that was unchecked and unreviewed by the General Assembly,” Demmer said, WSIU NPR reported. “We must reengage our role as a coequal branch of government to provide the kinds of checks and balances that the people of Illinois expect.”
The most recent report by the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget shows revenues are coming in at a 6.2% higher rate than expected, but the state’s spending has also been higher than anticipated, thanks largely to extra Medicaid expenses.
The governor’s budget message for the next fiscal year is yet to come, but an email from his office stated the $700 million in spending cuts would carry over into the following year, reported WSIU NPR. He also intends to bolster revenue by closing what he termed “corporate tax loopholes,” which are losing the state approximately $900 million.
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