By Blake Haas
BLOOMINGTON – As bars and restaurants continue to suffer from the ramifications from the COVID-19 mitigations set forth by Gov. Pritzker, politicians need to put political differences aside and work on relief funds, according to Illinois’ senior U.S. Senator.
Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) told WJBC’s Scott Miller, small businesses are suffering, and he’s reaching across the aisle for help.
“We have to take small steps, is one large step that’s going to solve this. What I’m doing now is reaching out across the aisle to Republican Senators and saying, ‘okay, we need COVID-19 relief.’ We have a deadly situation in my home state in Illinois, and it’s not the only state in this situation. We’ve got to do something COVID-relief bill. And I’ll be honest with you; we’re showing some progress.”
Gov. Pritzker recently announced the state would be borrowing $2 billion from the Federal Government to help with the loss of state tax revenues in hopes the Biden administration and Congress will pass a second stimulus package once sworn into office.
“There is some senators, I can count five of them, I can give you the names, but I won’t, and plenty of Democrats are saying, ‘alright, let’s sit down and reach an agreement, what we can agree to help America with.’ We have to do our part; we are elected to do that. I think I’ve got to do it by reaching out across the aisle, and I hope many Republicans feel the same way,” added Durbin, who was recently re-elected to his fifth term in Congress.
LISTEN: Senator Dick Durbin spoke with WJBC’s Scott Miller about the possibility of more COVID-19 relief funds.
In March, the Senate passed a $2 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package that provided $1,200 checks to Americans. However, Durbin says that was nine months ago, and American’s need more support.
Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].
