Ramirez Responds to Governor’s Budget Address

SPRINGFIELD, Ill.  – Following Gov. Pritzker’s budget address, state Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Chicago, released the following statement:

“Working families and seniors struggle to put food on their tables in an economy that is rigged in favor of the few at the expense of the many. The costs of housing, child care, health care and education have skyrocketed on top of everyday expenses while little to no gains have been made in real wages and access to supportive services have been continuously eroded. These are the challenges our community has faced while public officials have been caught lining their own pockets. This disregard for the needs of our community must end now.

“As the Acting Chair of the Adoption and Child Welfare Committee, I support the Governor’s proposed 147 million increase to the Department of Children and Family Services, an agency tasked with the safety of our children but that was lacked proper support and oversight for years. I intend to explore additional ways in which we can ensure the agency is effective and accountable so we may best protect all Illinois children.

“Because housing is a human right, I pledge to work to increase access to affordable housing and homelessness prevention programs. We must also bring real property tax relief to homeowners by continuing to invest in the Equity Based Formula which will move us away from an over-reliance on property taxes to fund our local schools by making the state a stronger partner. I also look forward to continuing my work on the Property Tax Relief Task Force to identify concrete ways to reduce property taxes on families struggling to stay in their homes due to gentrification.

 “Budgets reflect values and it is past time our state’s budget reflects housing and health care as human rights, quality education is not only for the well-off and that parents should not have to decide which one of them should forgo their income and career because they cannot afford child care. I am hopeful that today we have a governor that shares those same values and I am committed to working with him and my colleagues to fight for the voiceless by investing in our community that has been overlooked for far too long.”

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