With the Illinois General Assembly set to begin its lame duck session on Friday. State Representative Charlie Meier (R-Okawville) says he is “skeptical about Governor Pritzker and the Democrat controlled legislature producing positive results for the people of Illinois.”
“It’s a New Year, which means many new goals and New Year resolutions for many in 2021,” said Rep. Meier. “However it doesn’t appear the governor made a resolution to fix the failures made by his administration. The governor has failed to remedy the fraudulent unemployment claims and continues to delay processing unemployment benefits to those who are out of work. The IDES failures have plagued his administration since March. Since the shutdowns were announced by Pritzker, thousands of Illinoisans for no fault of their own were sent to the unemployment line still have not received benefits, and many are still out of work today.”
The individuals and small businesses affected the most, are the ones impacted by Governor Pritzker’s restrictions. Local businesses and their employees severely impacted include restaurants, bars, and entertainment venues. Small businesses forced to operate at limited capacity are suffering all while the big box stores were jam packed during the Holidays.
Rep. Meier added, “I’m disappointed Governor Pritzker recently touted his administration expunged nearly 500,000 cannabis related arrest records 5 years ahead of schedule while thousands are still waiting to receive either their unemployment check, FOID card, or CCL license. Pritzker can figure out a way to expunge arrest records quickly, but slow to fix the delay in unemployment benefits and IDs for law-abiding gun owners.”
In addition to fixing unemployment system failures by the Pritzker administration. Rep. Meier would like to see the legislature approve a plan to prevent the governor from continuous lockdowns, and pass corruption reform measures. As of Monday, another Madigan ally was indicted by the federal government. Putting corruption reform on the minds of lawmakers such as Rep. Meier when he returns to Springfield.
The Illinois General Assembly’s lame duck session will begin at Noon on Friday, January 8th and could potentially run up until 11:59 a.m. on January 13th, a minute before returning and newly elected members take the oath of office.