West Central Reporter

Illinois state Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer (R-Jacksonville) recently voiced his opinion on the state's ongoing debt problem.

"The State of Illinois and its people benefit from the unemployment trust fund, which was used and abused throughout this pandemic (even while our own Illinois Department of Employment Security couldn’t figure out how to provide timely benefits and refused help from the federal government to fight off fraud)," Davidsmeyer wrote in a Nov. 12 Facebook post. 

Davidsmeyer referred to the Treasury Direct page focusing on the Title XII Advance Activities Schedule, which noted that as of Nov. 18, Illinois had an outstanding balance of $4,448,493,505.58. 

"Illinois received around $8 billion from the federal government," Davidsmeyer added. "We currently owe $4.5 billion to the federal unemployment trust fund. Because the Democrat majority refused to use a portion of the $8 billion in federal fund to pay off that debt, we now owe an additional $11.25 million in interest, which continues to grow. That’s $11.25 million that can’t go to schools, can’t go to the developmentally disabled, can’t go to help seniors stay in their homes, and can’t pay down out out-of-control pension debt."

The state representative went on detail the consequences of not paying the outstanding debt.

"Not paying that debt owed to the unemployment trust fund will eventually mean two things (BOTH, not one or the other): 1) Businesses will pay significantly higher unemployment rates, AND 2) the unemployed will receive significantly less dollars to survive their temporary unemployment," Davidsmeyer said.

Metro East Sun reported that in June, Davidsmeyer spoke out about Democrats and the budget - saying that they "screwed" it up after being notified of problems in the budget bill. And in May, he talked about the delays surrounding the FOID program, calling them an impediment to the Second Amendment.