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Posted on 05/17/2025 8:58:38 AM PDT by TigerClaws
Illinois Republicans say there is more than $1 billion of Illinois taxpayer funds going to non-government organizations with little oversight and accountability.
Among the spending some members of the Illinois House Republicans highlighted was more than $14 million going to the Indo American Center. State Rep. Brad Halbrook, R-Shelbyville, said that’s just a drop in the bucket.
“Today, we’re turning our attention to a staggering amount of taxpayer money, over $1 billion that’s been funneled into politically connected non-government organizations, or NGOs,” Halbrook said during a news conference in Springfield Tuesday.
State Rep. Chris Miller, R-Oakland, said hundreds of millions are going out to other nonprofits with little oversight for the taxpayers.
“When you start to trim the pork, the pigs start to squeal,” Miller said. “And that’s what we’re going to see when these things get exposed, the uproar is going to be deafening.”
Not on the Republicans’ list was more than $5.8 million going to the American Lung Association in fiscal year 2024. State Rep. Martin McLaughlin, R-Barrington Hills, said there needs to be more oversight.
“We need to have the ability to get into these agencies and have them respond and the current structure doesn’t allow us to,” McLaughlin said.
The American Lung Association said the funding it gets from the state comes from the Tobacco Settlement Recovery Fund.
"Tobacco Funds, not taxpayer funds, also cover asthma prevention and lung cancer screening programs the Lung Association implemented in partnership with the Illinois Department of Public Health in FY24," a spokesperson told The Center Square.
The group of Republicans also said their proposed budget, coming in at $11 billion less than Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s proposed budget, is more responsible for taxpayers.
Pritzker’s proposed budget is nearly $55 billion, the largest in state history. State Rep. Jed Davis, R-Yorkville, said their plan comes in much lower.
“I think there’s a clear path down to $44 billion that is not painstaking to the people of Illinois and also putting $1,500 back into the pockets of working families,” Davis said. “Again, we do not have a revenue problem. We have a priority problem.”
Details of the GOP plan are expected to be released Wednesday.
State Rep. Blaine Wilhour, R-Beecher City, said one place to cut is nearly a billion dollars for nonprofits.
“The easy answers were a long time ago,” Wilhour said. “It’s going to take tough people to come up here and rightsize this stuff.”
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That tobacco lawsuit was one of the biggest shakedowns in history. Big tobacco shelled out hundreds of billions of dollars and most of it went into the states’ general funds to fund politicians’ pet projects.
DOGE is sprouting little doges
The Musk Effect.
It’s about time the Republican wing of the uniparty plays offense.
Put the Marxist wing of the uniparty on the defensive for a change.
so, do the repubs hold a majority in the ILL leg?
WONDERFUL!!!!!
“Not on the Republicans’ list was more than $5.8 million going to the American Lung Association in fiscal year 2024. State Rep. Martin McLaughlin, R-Barrington Hills, said there needs to be more oversight.”
$5.8M? Sure ... go after the fat large and small.
But they need to increase the debt by $5T just to cover the next two years worth of wonderful spending.
It’s Illinois. The protest is futile and just for show.
Here in Illinois the republicans are nothing more than comic relief. They’re a bunch of eunuchs with -0- power or influence. democrats have run this state from top to bottom since the 1920s and it will not change anytime soo, if ever.
partially true. Repubs held the governorship more often than not over the last 40 years. Repubs held an IL US Senate seat not that long ago (Kirk). The problem has been RINOs destroying the Republican brand (George Ryan) and the fact that Repubs have ‘given up’ on IL. Republicans can win this state if effort was put into it, we had good solid conservative candidates, and the voter fraud in chicago is tamped down. It’s a tall order, but it could be done.
So glad I live in the Free State of Florida, where our pols formed a select committee to explore doing away with the real estate tax on homesteaded property. Their report is due in September.
Thanks to a progressive 1964 Scotus decision, Baker v. Carr, cities typically run (ruin) states.
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