Top Republican in Springfield has advice for Gov. Pritzker: “Move away from your national stage”

Posted on February 20, 2024
Senate Minority Leader John Curran (R-Downers Grove). (Photo courtesy: Dave Dahl/WJBC)

By Dave Dahl

SPIRNGFIELD – A top Republican in Springfield has some advice for Gov. JB Pritzker, who Wednesday will ask for at least another $182 million for migrants.

“Stop the invitation. Roll back the policies that have created the non-citizen welfare state,” said Senate Minority Leader John Curran (R-Downers Grove). “Move away from your national stage presence proclaiming Illinois to be the most welcoming state in the nation.”

A couple of hours after that news conference, State Reps. Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich) and Blaine Wilhour (R-Beecher City) rose on the House floor to say the people arriving here should be treated as illegal immigrants, not asylum-seekers.

State Sen. Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro) said Pritzker is a “billionaire” whose priority is not Illinoisans. She and her colleagues used the news conference to decry Pritzker’s budgets. When asked to compare that performance to that of predecessor Bruce Rauner, a multi-millionaire who led the state through more than two years with no budget, the senators were not interested in responding.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].

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