Southern Illinois News

Illinois Rep. David Friess (R-Red Bud) responded to the State of the State address delivered by Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) in a video released Feb. 16 on his website.

"Just heard the governor’s State of the State address. Unfortunately, it's a version of alternate realities," he said in the video. "The governor talked about how good things are going in the state of Illinois. Unfortunately, everyday Illinois knows better. We’re battling inflation. We either have to eat or pay the heating bill. It's very unfortunate, and we have possibly a pending recession coming, and all he wants to do is spend more money on more government programs. That's not what we should do at this point in time. Like I said, it's a speech on alternate realities."

Friess also commented on the speech in a statement issued on his website.

“Instead of initiating new spending for new programs, we should be focused on meeting the needs of our local citizens," Friess said. "I am listening to the voices of my constituents and fighting for issues that are important to all of us. I will work with both sides to enact real change in Illinois. These are taxpayers’ dollars, and taxpayers deserve to know if they are spent efficiently. While Illinois families are faced with record inflation, we should not be funding politician pay raises, as the Democrats have repeatedly pushed to do. Accountability matters.”

In the Feb. 15 State of the State address, Pritzker touted economic progress and highlighted several priorities, such as universal preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds in Illinois.

"We’ve reduced the burden on Illinois taxpayers by eliminating hundreds of millions of dollars in interest payments," Pritzker said. "We’ve reduced taxes on those who can least afford them, and we’re finally investing in what really matters — improving education and making college more affordable, modernizing our transportation systems, improving public safety and assisting law enforcement to make our neighborhoods safer, reducing homelessness and increasing mental health care, cutting taxes and fees on small businesses, attracting new businesses, giving more state revenue to local governments and schools so they can stop raising your property taxes, and so much more. Getting our fiscal house in order is improving our economy, which crossed the threshold of $1 trillion in GDP (gross domestic product) at the end of last year."

Friess lives in Red Bud with his wife, Miki. They have two children, who were raised in Red Bud. He served in the U.S. Air Force during Desert Storm and later worked for Delta as an aircraft mechanic before returning to school. He earned a degree in Criminal Justice from Mercer University with honors and went on to earn his Juris Doctorate from John Marshall Law School, according to his website.