OKAWVILLE – State Rep. Charlie Meier (R-Okawville) released the following statement upon Governor JB Pritzker affixing his signature to the FY 24 Illinois budget on Wednesday. Meier voted no on SB 250 during Session that stretched beyond midnight on May 27.
“I voted against this budget for a variety of reasons,” Meier said. “First, the budget is balanced using the reinstatement of taxes on food and medicine. I support permanent tax relief for those items at this time of great inflation. The families I represent could use a break. I also believe that raising politicians’ pay at this time is wrong. This budget does that.”
Meier also took issue with provisions in the budget that pay for the healthcare of undocumented immigrants.
“The budget spends hundreds of millions of dollars on health care coverage for people that came here illegally,” Meier said. “This spending is happening at the expense of the individuals that provide care to our developmentally disabled folks living in group homes and CILAs, and it comes at the expense of better funding for these facilities to provide better care for the residents.”
Rep. Meier serves as an assistant House Minority Leader. He says Republicans were shut out of the process of creating the budget, and that fact means his constituents were shut out of the budget process.
“It is wrong to be pushing through a $50-plus billion budget in the dark of night without the proper amount of time for legislators and the public to review the spending plan,” Meier said. “I cannot support a budget that leaves my constituents out and reflects priorities that my constituents and I do not share. I voted NO.”