Dear Friends,

State government finally has a budget. The vote came two weeks after the new fiscal year started July 1.

I could not in good conscience vote for this budget because it only postpones desperately needed solutions. It calls on record borrowing and leaves a huge cliff in the 2011 budget. It leverages our children’s future by putting our state further in debt.

A better solution to this economic crisis would be to implement budget reductions across the board. In this budget, some agencies get spending increases and others get dramatic cuts. They may keep state government operating, but don’t kid yourselves. This doesn’t solve our problems.

Once again, the tough decisions have not been made. The Governor has failed to do the heavy lifting. Businesses are looking for states with the fiscal discipline to live within their means. This budget sends a terrible message about our state’s economic stability. This further damages our state’s attractiveness to businesses already in Illinois and to businesses looking to locate in new states.

Despite Democrat leaders’ desire to increase income taxes as a way to bolster state revenues, I  have consistently said substantive changes must be made to the way business is done in Springfield. It would be a mistake to increase taxes and dump billions of new dollars into a system that is already broken, pushing businesses away in the process!

We have had seven years of tax-and-spend excesses that have increased our budget by more than $6 billion. And suddenly when the bills come due, Democrat leaders are asking us to jump on their tax increase bandwagon. My answer is ‘no!’ I am standing up for the working families of Illinois and the businesses that provide their jobs. Democratic leaders have been talking tax increases for months, but no state ever taxed its way out of a recession. We must scale back programs and make them more efficient.

The real solution to our economic crisis should include revenue increases through natural growth and spending reductions. We must focus on job retention and creation, with the higher quality of life and the additional state revenues those jobs will mean for Illinois and our families.

Please contact me if you have questions or need more information. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Bill Brady