It is, indeed, entirely unacceptable that Illinois is poised
to enter a third year with no State Budget in place. We need a balanced budget right now! We cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the
good. We also cannot let the bad pass as
good just to drop a mission accomplished banner and pat ourselves on the back.
Without a real balanced and austere solution, we will soon
begin to see irreversible damage done to our schools, institutions of higher
education, social service providers and the businesses and vendors that provide
goods and services to our State. What we
cannot do, though, is repeat the mistakes of the past. Passing an unbalanced budget only causes
further damage to a state that is already fiscally insolvent.
However, if we recognize in a bipartisan way that our State
is at the brink of disaster, we can begin to address the problem in a
meaningful way. The Senate’s tax
increase proposal does little to address the systemic problems that got us
here. The notion that we can dig out
without a combination of some new revenue and some reforms is simply
naive. We need a coordinated effort in
June by members of both parties to work together and turn this situation
around. We cannot allow the State to go
into the new fiscal year beginning July 1st without a compromise,
balanced budget in place.
A lot can happen in a small amount of time in Springfield if
we truly work on this problem together, recognizing each others’
priorities. It’s going to take hard work
and a very real commitment by both sides to do so. So let me be clear- I continue to be
committed to putting aside my ideology in recognition of these challenges, but
we must avoid “magical thinking” if we hope to dig our way out. Anyone who tells you this can be fixed
without sacrifices is lying to you. Make
no mistake- there will be sacrifices if we want the games to end. There will have to be resolve to break the
bad habits that got us to this tragic condition. Stop the games, stop the politics and let’s
work together to get this done.
Rep. Norine Hammond
State Representative, 93rd District
