A Republican Illinois State Senator pleaded with the federal government not to give his “corrupt” state coronavirus bailout money, according to The Hill.
State Senator Jason Plummer said the federal government should not “bail out” his state, which he said is the “most corrupt” in the country.
“My Democratic state Senate colleagues garnered national attention with a letter containing this audacious request. [Democratic] Gov. J.B. Pritzker has separately requested billions in federal funds. The message from Illinois’ elected leaders is crystal clear: no humility, no regrets, no acknowledgment of failures, and no strings attached. American Taxpayers — bail us out!” Plummer wrote in an op-ed published by Fox News Wednesday.
“Don’t let it happen. Federal dollars should not prop up Illinois’ failed system,” he added.
Plummer said “Illinois’ present problems are not merely inherited, nor a failure to tax and spend enough.” He pointed his finger at Pritzker and said the state has “failed to aggressively pay down debt or plan for a rainy day.”
He also said the state is “ethically bankrupt,” full of scandals among its lawmakers and “a massive federal bailout won’t satiate the reckless spending habits of Illinois’ political class.”
“Why should the fiscally prudent people of Wyoming, Missouri or elsewhere be responsible for the failed policies of Illinois? Federal dollars for Illinois, beyond anything directly connected to the pandemic, would set a terrible precedent and make Washington, D.C., complicit in our sad story,” Plummer wrote.
Earlier this month, Illinois Senate Democrats sought more than $41 billion from the federal government in the next coronavirus relief plan, including $10 billion for a pension fund bailout.
Senate President Don Harmon requested the help in a letter to the members of the state’s congressional delegation.
“I realize I’ve asked for a lot, but this is an unprecedented situation, and we face the reality that there likely will be additional, unanticipated costs that could result in future requests for assistance,” Harmon wrote in the letter sent Tuesday.
On Twitter, the Illinois Republican Party blasted Harmon’s request as ”brazenly using a global pandemic as an excuse” to fix longtime financial problems.
"Never let a crisis go to waste" as they say. #twill
IL Dems brazenly using a global pandemic as an excuse to ask the Fed govmt to bail them out of the fiscal disaster they manufactured over the last two decades. @DonHarmonIL
should be ashamed. https://t.co/wuCKckkjDK— IL Republican Party (@ILGOP) April 18, 2020
Pritzker has also joined with governors of both parties seeking the federal funding for state and local governments with budgetary concerns amid the coronavirus pandemic.