A press release from State Senator Dan Duffy:
Duffy Reacts to Governor’s Budget Address
Dan Duffy
SPRINGFIELD- SPRINGFIELD- State Sen. Dan Duffy (R-Barrington) says he has serious concerns about the future of Illinois’ fiscal health, following Gov. at Quinn’s annual budget address to lawmakers on Wednesday, February 22.
“What I heard today was a typical political speech,” Duffy said.
”The Governor laid out a myriad of problems facing the state, but absolutely no creative solutions for dealing with them.”
“I agree whole-heartedly with the Governor that Illinois is in dire need of public employee pension and Medicaid reforms,” Duffy continued.
“However, I think he needs to work on these issues and propose solutions instead of outsourcing the task to his newly formed commissions.”
Duffy pointed out that while the Governor claims to want to cut Medicaid, he also wants to expand it by 160,000 enrollees in his new budget. This will increase the Medicaid rolls in Illinois to a record 3 million.
“What I was waiting for was Governor Quinn’s specific plans to dig us out of this financial nightmare, but we didn’t hear any solutions on how he plans to solve the worst fiscal crisis in the nation,” Duffy said.
“The only specifics we heard today were about how he would spend more money this year, as opposed to how he plans to spend less.
“Additionally he didn’t mention how he plans to ensure that the 67 percent income tax increase will expire as he previously promised.”
According to Duffy, the Governor’s budget proposal spends $550 million more than the approved Fiscal Year 2012 budget. He also says that if the state doesn’t get things under control, in five years the bill backlog will reach a whopping $35 billion. To put this in perspective that is about $2 billion more than the state’s entire annual general fund.
“As the CEO of our state, Governor Quinn should be leading by example instead of putting our fiscal stability in the hands of commissions,” said Duffy. “I believe that we can overcome our financial problems but it’s going to take true leadership and bold solutions.”