Top Democrat, Republican See State's Fiscal Position Heading in Separate Directions
Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-Swansea), an Assistant Majority Leader in the House, speaks at a news conference in March. Hoffman defended the Democrat budget bill that temporarily stops an increase in the state gas tax and provides direct checks to taxpayers.
It’s a political tale as old as time. A majority party defends its actions. A minority party attacks them. Just hours after the legislature adjourned for the spring early Saturday morning, a top Democrat and a top Republican in Springfield shared vastly different views on where Illinois is headed.
Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-Swansea), an Assistant Majority Leader in the Illinois House, defends the Democratic-backed $46.5 billion budget that provides nearly $2 billion in mostly short-term tax breaks ranging from delaying an increase in the gas tax, a temporary elimination of the grocery tax, and direct payments to more than 90% of taxpayers.
“First of all, the drivers in our spending increase are, number one, giving money back to Illinoisans in the form of tax cuts or tax credits,” Hoffman said. “A lot of the items in this budget are one time items and we were cognizant of that so that when we face next year’s budget, that we’ll be able to take a look at some of [those] things.”
He also said a $1 billion deposit into the state’s “rainy day fund” is a one-time expense that will preserve state resources in the event of another economic downturn.
But Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods) says Democrats are growing spending at too high of a rate. He says even with one time spending, pressures will build next year as most estimates show the state bringing in less money in the FY2023 budget.
“One of the things they clearly did was expanded our year over year spending that’s going forward,” said McConchie. “The biggest concern that I have is how much these election year gimmicks that they did in regard to tax relief is simply not going to help to stem the exodus from the state.”
But Hoffman criticized Republicans for calling for tax cuts and protecting business, but continuing to vote against Democratic plans to send taxpayers back their money.
“I find it ironic that the other side of the aisle has voted against historic amounts of tax breaks for individuals as well as against taking pressure off of the unemployment insurance fund when we put $2.7 billion dollars into the fund,” Hoffman said.
Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods)
McConchie says Democrats should have used more federal dollars to bail out the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund to stem further tax increases on employers and benefit cuts for applicants in an attempt to fill the remaining hole.
“You have to take a step back and say what should they have done in the first place with all of the different COVID relief money that came in,” McConchie said. “Ok, so they’re handing out checks and will those checks be helpful? They’ll let you buy a tank of gas, but at the end of the day, there are some massive things that they could have done and simply didn’t do. That is a real problem for the state going forward.”
Crime continues to be at the top of mind of many voters around the state, but Hoffman says Republicans are misrepresenting the actions of the Democrat-passed criminal justice bill in early 2021 that eliminates cash bail, but doesn’t take effect until 2023.
“The narrative that the Republicans are going to spew is the narrative that they’re going to spew,” Hoffman said about GOP criticisms that Democrats are “soft” on crime. “We put a historic amount of money into the recruitment and retention of law enforcement across the state. We also put $250 million into the Reimagining Public Safety Act and another $124 million is going to local police. We passed historic carjacking legislation as well as organized retail theft legislation. To say that we haven’t been supportive of law enforcement, I think that’s rhetoric that’s just coming from the other side of the aisle and just isn’t based on fact.”
McConchie says crime is up, in part due to economic strains of the COVID pandemic, but he says Democrats have made it appear the state doesn’t support police and their efforts at the end of the legislative session don’t go far enough to address the crime issues.
“There was some nibbling around the edges and throwing some money at various problems,” said McConchie. “Will that help? Maybe. Is it good enough? According to law enforcement, no. And I take their word for it.”
Both Hoffman and McConchie joined Patrick Pfingsten of The Illinoize for conversations Monday. Watch below: