State Representative Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, issued the following statement in response to Governor JB Pritzker’s Budget Address to a joint session of the Illinois General Assembly on February 20:
“While I was encouraged to hear the Governor strike an optimistic tone in recognizing the significant fiscal challenges we must work to overcome together, I am disappointed that he did not offer any solutions to provide property tax relief or embrace needed reforms to make Illinois a more welcoming place for new job creators to locate and enable existing job creators to grow and thrive. Living in a district that borders Iowa, we have to be concerned about Illinois’ ability to compete in the job market relative to neighboring states. Hopefully, the Governor will make room for bipartisan ideas to move the needle of state priorities in that direction while we work together on mutual goals vital to public safety and commerce, like investing in repairing our roads and bridges.
“As a member of the Transportation Committee, I am already participating in discussions on how to best strengthen our infrastructure and am hopeful that, working together on a bipartisan basis, we can meet the needs of our communities and deliver results for families here in the Quad Cities and northwest Illinois. As a member of the Elementary & Secondary Education Committee, I believe we need to reduce the number of unfunded mandates on our schools so that teachers can focus on what they do best, shaping and inspiring the next generation of students, not checking off boxes on paperwork to satisfy bureaucrats in Springfield. These are areas we can work with the Governor on to find common ground.”
Representative McCombie serves the 71st District, which includes portions of Rock Island, Henry, Carroll and Whiteside Counties.