Illinois Democrats spend the budget in the last minutes with a sports betting hike

Springfield – Illinois legislators approved a budget package of $ 55.2 billion in minutes of a key constitutional deadline on Saturday evening, based on tax increases that would hit smokers, players and large companies outside the state to help seal an estimated deficit at $ 1 billion.

Democratic leaders have reduced it to the last seven minutes in the year of May, but avoided the public intra-public public quarrel which marked the chaotic conclusion of the legislative session last spring. The main bill on the budget has crossed democratic supermajetures despite strong progressive opposition to the reduction of a state health care program for immigrants without legal status.

“It is not perfect, but vote yes,” said the representative of the State Eva-Dina Delgado on the floor of the Chamber before a vote of the bill on the budget of 75-41 which saw only two defects of the Democrats. Several other Democrats in the Senate voted against the lines of the parties on other budgetary measures.

Delgado is part of the Latin Caucus, which has opposed the reduction of the health benefits of immigrant adults to reduce $ 400 million from the spending plan recommended by Governor JB Pritzker. Reducing the coverage of nearly 33,000 people in Illinois, including 22,000 in COOK County.

The representative of the State Lisa Hernandez, D-Cicero, said that she had always considered retaining her vote during the hours of decline in the session, but the head of the assistant majority found herself on board with the plan advanced by the president of Illinois, Emanuel “Chris” Welch and the president of the State Senate, Don Harmon.

“It’s a budget that will hurt,” said Hernandez. “The investment we made has really lowered a lot of costs when you talk about charity care in hospitals.”

In a press release, Harmon said: “We all want to do more. But it is a responsible and balanced budget that pursues our work to improve the lives of the great people of the Grand State of Illinois. ”

Pritzker said in a statement that he would sign the budget plan.

“Even in front of Trump and the Republicans of the Congress blocking the national economy, our state budget offers workers’ families without increasing its taxes while protecting the progress we make for our long-term budgetary health,” he said.

The legislators have kept $ 110 million in the budget for a similar program limited to adults aged 65 or over without legal status, but Hernandez said that it could be the last year of funding such as the State is struggling with the imminent spectrum of deep federal cuts under the administration of President Donald Trump.

This uncertainty has aggravated the billion dollars that the legislators ended up folding in part by slapping the taxes of a quarter or 50 cents on each online sports bet – a measure that struck the drafts and fanduelle a year after the legislators imposed a heavy graduated tax rate on the booming industry.

Taxes also had to be increased up to 45% on cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, nicotine pockets and chewing tobacco.

And while legislators have abandoned a proposal to impose a 10% digital advertising tax on technological companies like Facebook, a new method for taxing large companies outside the state for their Illinois presence had to produce an additional $ 72 million while a tax amnesty program had to recover some 198 million dollars from deinotion.

“We present a budget that meets this moment. It is balanced through intelligent cuts and intelligent income, not balanced on the back of workers’ families, “said the representative of the Robyn State Gabel, a Democrat in Evanson and one of the best budgetary negotiators in the Chamber. “He uses the best information we have at that time uncertain to make the best decisions for our condition.”

Last year, it took Democrats in the House Three last minute trials To adopt an expenditure invoice. This year, members of the lower room supported the party line closer than their colleagues in the Senate. Even the representative of the State Fred Crespo, D-Hoffman Estates, voted for budgetary weeks after being launched from the Caucus by the president of Illinois, Emanuel “Chris” Welch, for floating alternative proposals.

The republicans of superminarity, explained the budgetary talks as usual, struck the democratic plan.

“You know how is it a bad budget? When it starts with at least $ 1 billion in taxes,” said the head of the Senate minority, John Curran, R-Downers Grove.

The head of the House minority, Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, criticized the Democrats for having included almost 5% of wage increases for members of the General Assembly, increases which are linked to inflation under the law of the State.

“President Welch said that the calm party aloud: tax democrats and expenses thrive in Illinois – to the detriment of Illinois families,” said McCombie.

While states legislators regularly adopt budgets in the short hours of spring sessions in the Capitol, democrats were under the weapon to do everything before the clock hit midnight on June 1, when bills need the majority of three -fifths, not just one.

The final bill was approved by the room at 11:53 p.m., just over a day after The first details of expenses were published publicly After months of closed -door negotiations.

“We are supposed to check this kind of thing. We are not doing our job, ”said State representative John Cabello, R-Machesney Park.