Brady said the $26 billion legislation will increase the
federal deficit
and leave Illinois with a bigger budget hole to fill
next year."These are just typical Washington games, digging a
deeper hole," Brady told reporters as he prepared to march in a
Springfield parade. "I don't know where they're going to get the
money."
The federal legislation pays for the aid by ending a tax loophole
used by multinational corporations and cutting future food stamp
benefits. Democrats say it will actually reduce the deficit by about
$1.4 billion.
Illinois is expected to get $415 million for education, which
Democratic officials predict will prevent more than 5,000 teachers
from being laid off. The state would also get about $500 million to
spend on Medicaid, the health program for the poor.
"It just avoids the inevitable," said Brady, a state senator from
Bloomington. "At the end of the day, we have to learn to live within
our means, and we cannot ask the federal government to continue to
bail us out."
His running mate, Jason Plummer, called the money "magical fairy
dust" that won't solve any long-term problems.
Brady said Illinois should not reject the federal aid. If
Congress has decided to spend the money, he said, Illinois should
get its fair share.
