Illinois House leaders exchanged words before adjourning over the weekend

Posted on May 30, 2023
House Minority Leader Tony McCombie (R-Savanna). (Dave Dahl/WJBC)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – Hopes of bipartisanship for 2023 were absent when it was time to vote on a budget, and the two leaders of the Illinois House exchanged words about it right before adjourning early Saturday.

“Regardless of our weekly meetings, Speaker Welch, you gave a false hope for a new day,” said House Minority Leader Tony McCombie (R-Savanna), invoking a phrase Speaker Chris Welch (D-Hillside) used when he took the gavel two years ago. “The House Republicans were denied participation in many things, but, most importantly, this year’s budget process.”

House Speaker Chris Welch (D-Hillside). (Dave Dahl/WJBC)

Denying that, Welch – his voice rising to a thunder – said he asked McCombie to commit at least Republican leaders to vote for the budget. “Isn’t that a fair question to ask? That’s a fair question to ask! Work with us and PUT SOME VOTES ON THE BOARD! PUT IT ON THE BOARD!!”

Republicans in neither the House nor Senate voted for the budget, and McCombie and Welch now have the summer to cool off.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]

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