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Taxpayers still haven’t seen the full details of how their money
will be spent by state government for the fiscal year that
begins July 1. State Rep. Daniel Didech, D-Buffalo Grove, said
the majority party is doing what it's done the past seven years.
“It's the same process that's produced six consecutive balanced
budgets,” Didech said during an unrelated news conference
Friday. “It's the same process that's earned our state nine
credit rating upgrades.”
Democrats are talking about the budget behind closed doors.
State Rep. Norine Hammond, R-Moline, is one of the GOP
budgeteers. She said she did meet on high-level talks with
Democrats a few weeks ago.
“We had a couple of meetings, they were very high level, 10,000
feet if you will,” Hammond said. “Nothing of any substance.”
The budget could spend up to $55 billion.
Friday, state Rep. Brad Halbrook, R-Shelbyville, told members of
the Illinois House they should look at the so-called “big,
beautiful” bill and work to bring about changes for Illinois to
take advantage of, including changes to the estate tax.
“Illinois should follow suit. At a minimum, we should match the
federal exemption levels,” Halbrook said. “But I believe we
should go even further and eliminate the Illinois estate tax
altogether.”
Didech used expletives to express his criticism of the bill
working through Congress, and how he said it would negatively
impact Illinois.
"And we’re going to have to make some very, very tough choices
this year because Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress have
passed this big bulls*** bill that’s gonna hurt people in
Illinois,” Didech said.
Both chambers return Tuesday and are scheduled through Saturday,
May 31.
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