Illinois State House District 115 issued the following announcement on April 23.
State Rep. Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro) is sounding off after Governor JB Pritzker announced his stay-at-home order will be extended on May 1 through May 30. Despite some coming changes to the orders, Bryant says she is hearing anger and disgust from many Southern Illinoisans.
“I am happy with some of the changes that were made to the governor’s orders, but I want to be very clear. Southern Illinois is a much different place than Chicago and the other highly populated areas of the state. I have pushed for a regional approach to reopening our economy, and today the governor blew off a question about that.”
Some of the changes that are coming deal with allowing certain establishments that had been deemed non-essential in the governor’s first two orders to resume some business operations. Another change will be allowing medical facilities to resume non-COVID-19 related healthcare services. Another will allow the reopening of certain state parks and recreation areas under the guidance that social distancing rules be followed.
“I am disappointed that churches were left out,” Bryant said. “I am also not sure where we stand on allowing drive-through graduation ceremonies. We are not sure where CDL license applicants stand. There are many unanswered questions and I am going to keep pushing for the governor to change his mind on using the regional approach. We are not Chicago for many reasons. I want to put the health and safety of our citizens first, but southern Illinois is particularly vulnerable to an economic crash if we can’t resume some kind of normal life.
Finally, Bryant says she is concerned that Democrat legislative leaders have been almost completely silent on the governor’s actions so far.
“Speaker Madigan and President Harmon have said nothing. They seem to have no plan. Yet, they lead two super-majorities in their chambers. They are giving the governor a pass on everything and their members are staying quiet as well. House Republicans are the ones that have driven any of these changes. What’s Madigan’s plan to get us back to Springfield to pass a budget? So far, we have heard nothing at all. That is unacceptable. We need to get back to work and do it in a safe and responsible manner. The people of Illinois are looking for leadership in this time of crisis, and we’re getting no answers to these questions from Democrat leadership. That must change now!”
Original source can be found here.
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