Will County Gazette

In the eyes of veteran state Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield), the state’s new $42 billion budget is riddled with inconsistencies, none more glaring than the $1,800 pay raise lawmakers managed to carve out for themselves as part of the package.

“I’m dumbfounded at the fact legislators would push for something like this while so many people across this state are suffering the way they are,” Batinick told the Will County Gazette. “It just speaks to the misplaced priorities of some of those in the legislature.”

Batinick stresses that’s only the start of how he sees the plan crafted by Gov. J.B. Pritzker setting the state on the wrong course.

"It includes a whole lot of borrowing and the hope of money from the federal government that no one can know for sure will be coming,” he added. “I really don’t see it as a serious attempt at making state government run more efficiently in this state.”

The plan easily passed by both chambers during an emergency pandemic session of the legislature heavily counts on federal funding to plug holes made even deeper by the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. As part of the package, lawmakers also approved a measure that allows for borrowing up to $5 billion from the federal government, which legislators hope will eventually be repaid with more funds allocated from Washington.

“There’s just not much about it that strikes me as Springfield showing that they’re serious about finally doing what we need to be doing to turn things around,” Batinick said. “You would think that things would be more serious at this point, especially when you think about all the people in this state that are now unemployed with no clear idea of what comes next.”