McHenry Times

Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods) gave an end-of-session update during a news conference listing the accomplishments and disappointments of his caucus.

“We were able to pressure the governor to continue to keep his commitment to fully fund K-12 education and to keep the tax credit for the Invest in Kids Scholarship Program that allows children from the worst-performing schools around the state to go to the school of their choice,” he said. “We also have forced the vote to confirm the long-acting secretary of IDOT, Omer Osman, to get that out of executive appointments. We've now been able to confirm him here a few minutes ago on the Senate floor. We're also glad to see the governor walk back from his originally proposed diversions from the Road Fund following major pushback from the Republican Party.

The GOP was also able to participate in negotiations such as an agreement amongst cable telecommunications providers, labor, and the business community to extend the Telecommunications Act, and reach a compromise on telehealth between insurance companies and medical providers “that will allow for continued access to telehealth options for Illinoisans across the state.” Telehealth, according to McConchie, for someone like him who has a disability, would be very helpful and for those in the rural areas.

“Now, that said, there are many disappointments as well,” McConchie said as he started identifying their frustrations. “The budget passed early this morning spins over $600 billion more than the governor's introduced budgets and includes $666 million in taxes on job creators. It does not fully take care of the rehabilitation community’s request of an extra $193 million to fully implement the rate study from FY 92 to help people with disabilities throughout the state. Even though Democrats admitted that they have $1 billion giving out in ARPA funds to shockingly primarily Democratic districts.

He explained that the 3,000-page budget underfunds the unemployment insurance trust fund and Republicans were not able to review what else was written in the budget because they only had “a couple of hours to be able to look at it.”

He also said that “the days of us waiting quietly at the door for the chance of scraps at the table are over," and their commitment to continue the fight for the people of Illinois is strong.

McConchie and other House and Senate Republicans recently assembled outside Pritzker’s capitol office to call upon him to live up to his campaign pledge and veto partisan-drawn maps.

The governor did not heed the call and signed off on the maps.