MACOMB — Republican political figures recently weighed in on the Thursday passage of stopgap funding.
The funding allows road construction projects to continue and provides funding for K-12 and higher education institutions.
U.S. Rep. Darin?LaHood (R-Dunlap), State representatives Norin Hammond (R-Macomb) and Randy Frese (R-Quincy), along with Republican Senate candidate Jil Tracy attended a McDonough County Republican Leadership/Republican Women event on Thursday.
Following the meeting, they spoke with area media. Remarks from Hammond and Frese were published on the front page of Saturday’s weekend edition of the Voice with regard to the recent stopgap measure.
U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood
For LaHood, getting the stopgap measure passed on Thursday was a good thing, even though his level of action takes place on the federal arena in Washington, D.C.
“Kudos to Randy (Frese) and Norine (Hammond) on getting it done,” he said.
LaHood also recognized Hammond’s activities on the Budget Working Group and working with higher education entities to recognize the critical nature of the lack of funding and figuring out what it would take to get funding.
“Today is a good day for Illinois. But this is obviously not the final solution. We have a long way to go on that,” he said.
“There’s been a lot of criticism over the past couple of months about not being able to compromise.?This was a compromise. And I want to recognize Rep. Hammond and Rep. Frese for compromising in that. There’s also the governor. I want to recognize the governor. People said the governor was not going to compromise.”
Still, LaHood recognized bigger issues with the state.
“We need to get Illinois back on track,” he said. “We need to get more jobs in this state. We can do that on the business side.”
When asked if Gov. Bruce Rauner’s Turnaround Agenda needs to be addressed, LaHood said there were aspects of his agenda the state needs.
“When the foundation of your house is crumbling, you don’t put on a third floor; a fourth floor. You fix the foundation.”
LaHood cited Rauner’s points on worker’s compensation reform, tax reform, regulation and the reining in of public pensions as main areas of concern.
“You know, Illinois has wonderful assets to be a great business climate. But we need change on those things to happen in the Legislature, and those are things that Governor Rauner has pushed.”
“We’re only going to grow the economy here in Illinois with more jobs... whether that’s jobs at Pella here in Macomb, Caterpillar or ADM in our ag sector.”
According to LaHood, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul?Ryan and House Republicans introduced legislation that would reform the federal tax code.
“We haven’t had comprehensive tax reform in the country in 26 years. So we are long overdue. The tax code has become cumbersome, complicated, and there are way too many loopholes. The policy he has laid out affects everybody.”
“Then, how do we keep companies like John Deere, Caterpillar or even State Farm in this country as opposed to going offshore. It incentivizes smaller businesses to invest in research development through the tax code. We have to be competitive with other countries around the world. We can do that with tax code reform.”
LaHood also said Ryan’s plan is a good template moving forward, and he is confident whoever the next President of the United States is will recognize that.
Senate Candidate Jil Tracy
According to Tracy, she looks forward to the opportunity to “get back into the trenches.” She previously served in the Statehouse alongside Norine Hammond.
Tracy said it’s important the stopgap was passed without the need to raise taxes. As such, the stopgap was critical to ensure prisons stayed open and public utility bills were paid to ensure utlities were not shut off to state facilities.
As agriculture is important to the region, Tracy applauded the inclusion of agriculture education funding as part of the stopgap.
“It’s so important all over the state. FFA and ag education help create leadership skills,” she said.
She also said Thursday’s action sends a message to the rest of the country about Illinois’ future course.
“It tells the rest of the country that Illinois is putting its problems behind it and moving forward. There is still a lot of work to do.”
