BENTON – State Representative Dave Severin (R-Benton) says he is disappointed that Governor Pritzker has affixed his signature to the FY 24 budget that passed on the last day of the 2023 spring legislative session in late May. Severin says the $50-plus billion spending plan contains items he is fundamentally opposed to.
“I didn’t vote for this budget and I don’t support the governor signing it today,” Severin said. “I’m not in support of using taxpayer dollars to fund on-demand abortions, I’m not in support of the tax hikes and fee hikes in this budget, I’m not in support of a budget that contains hundreds of millions of dollars for illegal immigrants health care at the expense of our developmentally disabled community and those staff members that provide them with critical care, and I’m not in support of the fact that legislators are getting a pay raise during this time of great inflation and economic hardship for families.”
Severin also took issue with the process that produced the spending plan.
“It’s the same old backroom deals for Democrats, dropped on us at the last minute, no public input status quo that has soured the people of Illinois on their government,” Severin said. “I’m normally a glass-half-full person, an optimist. But I can’t get behind a spending plan that was put together behind closed doors that passed in the dead of the night on the last day of session. With Republicans being totally shut out of this process, it means that the priorities of the constituents that I serve were ignored by the Democrats. Illinoisans deserve a better process and a better product. I voted NO.”
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