SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Due to multiple sweeping emergency declarations issued by Governor Pritzker starting with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the State of Illinois saw a massive uptick in unemployment claims.
American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds were distributed to states to help with that cost. Last night, Illinois Democrats led by Governor Pritzker passed Senate Bill 2803 which only paid over half the deficit, leaving the remainder to be passed along as a tax hike on businesses.
State Representative David Friess (R-Red Bud) offered this statement in response:
“Today, Illinois Democrats had a choice to make, use the ARPA funding to pay off our unemployment insurance trust fund debt, or impose a tax hike on jobs. Unsurprisingly they chose the latter and our businesses will be worse off for it. The simplicity of it all is baffling. The pandemic left us with $4.5 billion in unemployment insurance trust fund debt. Common sense might tell you to pay the debt off in full using APRA funds. Instead, the Democrats chose to only pay half, leaving the other half for use on more spending and pork projects. Other states across the nation faced the same issue, and they responsibly chose to pay off their unemployment insurance debt – but not Illinois.”