METROPOLIS – State Representative Patrick Windhorst (R-Metropolis) released the following statement upon Governor Pritzker’s signature on the Fiscal Year 2024 state budget on Wednesday.
“I voted against the budget that the governor signed into law today because I fundamentally oppose the process that produced the budget, and I am strongly opposed to several controversial items that this budget funds.
“The FY 24 budget spends $50.4 billion dollars, which is a record. Included in that funding is money for pay raises for lawmakers, hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for free Medicaid healthcare coverage for undocumented immigrants, and increased funding for taxpayer-funded abortions.
“Furthermore, the process that produced this budget was reminiscent of past years. A massive spending plan was dropped on legislators’ desks with inadequate time for review, with little time for the public to review it and provide input, and was passed through the House of Representatives on the last day of Session after midnight. Those facts notwithstanding, the budget was also a take-it-or-leave-it spending plan that came as a result of Democrats shutting Republicans completely out of negotiations, which disenfranchises my constituents and the four million Illinoisans represented by the Republican caucus.”
Windhorst voted no on SB 250. Now signed into law, the budget will take effect beginning July 1, 2023.
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