Will County Gazette

State Rep. Margo McDermed (R-Mokena) likened the General Assembly to a confused family in venting her frustration recently.

“We don't have a foundation," she said. "We don’t have a floor. We don’t have walls. We don’t have a roof. And we’re discussing the contents of the medicine cabinet. Let’s deal with essentials before we deal with something that’s nice to have.”

McDermed’s comments came as the House was debating a bill unrelated to the state’s budget impasse. Illinois has not had a full budget in nearly two years and faces a credit downgrade to junk status, as well as mounting unpaid bills and an inability to pay for higher education and human services.

“Let’s deal with the budget," McDermed said. "Let’s deal with pension reform. let’s deal with some of the big issues that we were elected to handle. And then let’s talk about these things, which are good things – it’s not a bad thing – but it’s not an important thing when we don’t have a budget, when we don’t have pension reform, when we have – how many billions are we up to in unpaid bills today? Let’s handle the big things first. Let’s have a floor. Let’s have a foundation. Let’s have a roof. Let’s have walls. Then we’ll talk.”