Here’s State Rep. Barbara Wheeler’s reaction to Governor Pat Quinn’s State of the State speech:
Wheeler Statement on State of State
Springfield, IL…Before a joint session of the Illinois General Assembly, Governor Pat Quinn delivered his State of the State speech. Quinn outlined his priorities for the 2013 session, including
- pension reform
- increasing Illinois’ minimum wage
- an assault weapons ban
State Rep. Barbara Wheeler (R-Crystal Lake) released this statement following the governor’s remarks on pensions:
“While I am pleased that the governor sees the reality of our broken fiscal house, we must now make the bold and courageous decisions that are needed to save us from financial collapse.
Barb Wheeler
“Our pension system has over $100 billion in unfunded liabilities, we have nearly $9 billion in unpaid bills, and the unwanted income tax increase is set to expire in 2015.
“We are at the brink of our own fiscal cliff. We must act now; the people of Illinois cannot afford additional hardships in this slow moving economy.”
And this statement on raising the minimum wage:
“We are in a stagnant economy and leaders are proposing an increasing the State’s minimum wage to $10 an hour.
‘How are employers and small businesses supposed to pay for this?
“The State increased business taxes to 9.3% just two years ago, didn’t go far enough in workers’ compensation reform, and now we are wanting to squeeze more out of the driving force of our economy?
“We need to look for ways to save employers and small businesses money before we look to increase the minimum wage.”