A press release from State Rep. candidate Steve Reick. He is running against Jack Franks.
Steve Reick Comments on Governor’s Budget Message
Republican candidate for IL General Assembly derides Governor’s budget proposal.
Harvard, IL – Steven Reick, the Republican candidate for the Illinois General Assembly in the 63rd District has responded to the five-year budget plan laid out Wednesday by Governor Quinn.
Steve Reick
“Pat Quinn’s budget message does nothing but reinforce what we already know: that our political leadership is firmly rooted in a state of denial about the condition of Illinois’ finances.
“While surrounding states have rebounded from the recession through tax reform and spending austerity, the Governor whistles past the graveyard of broken promises, from a pension system that remains broken, looming Medicaid increases, a pile of unpaid bills and a temporary tax increase he now wants to make permanent.
“Faced with that, he wants to increase spending, hoping that enough people will stay in the state to pay the tab.”
The temporary tax increase that was signed into law in 2011 was intended to pay Illinois’ $8.5 billion backlog of unpaid bills, and is scheduled to be reduced from 5% to 3.75% at the end of the year.
Today, the backlog of unpaid bills stands at $7 billion. A compromise pension bill was passed in December, but faces court challenges, and Illinois has increased its Medicaid rolls by hundreds of thousands of people in the past year.
Reick continued: “Ronald Reagan once said that Government is like a baby, an alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other. After the speech, Speaker Madigan told Illinois Public Radio that he’d support Quinn’s call for making the tax increase permanent, so it appears that the fix is in. In November, the people of Illinois need to tell Madigan and Quinn that they’ve had enough.”
Further information can be found on the candidate’s website, www.steve463.com.
I see a lot of Republicans taking shots at the budget saying things like “the pension is not fixed because it is being challenged in court”.
I know that most Republicans want to take MORE from the pensions. If this law doesn’t pass mustard, then how would theirs?
So they are right in saying there is still a pension problem, but what is the solution?
Especially if taking more from pensions will just end up in court and possibly fail again?
So Reick, what is your solution? Please give specifics. Especially if the pensions law is found unconstitutional.
Where is that money going to come from, or what programs need to be cut?
Obviously Quinn doesn’t have the answers, do you?
What I want to know from these conservative politicians in Illinois is if the state consistently has budget deficits, has a ton of cumulative debt, and its financial situation is worsening, then how are they going to fund the government if the income tax is going to drop to 75% of its current level (which, yes, I understand that the current rate was supposed to be temporary)?
We’re not going to grow our way out simply by going from a rate of 5 to 3.75%.
Are they fine with double digit across the board spending cuts?
It’s easy to criticize a tax increase, but what is the alternative?
I’m sure they favor balancing the budget instead of even greater deficits but I’d just like to hear some specifics.