Dave Winters Advocates the Economic Stimulus Package

On March 10th the Illinois House Republicans held an economic development discussion group to address their just introduced economic stimulus package, and the need for a new capital jobs program. While meeting with local business and labor leaders at Dial Machine’s facility in Rockford, they discussed issues relating to the local economy and job market.

The current capital improvement program needs to be revamped in order to create new jobs and rebuild Illinois’ infrastructure. House Republican Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego) and State Representatives Ron Wait (R-Belvidere) and David Winters (R-Shirland) support an updated $25 billion statewide capital program, which could produce 725,000 new jobs in Illinois.

Through the year long efforts by the House Republicans, billions of dollars would be circulated through the state’s economy from the capital jobs program. It would provide working families with well-paid jobs, repair Illinois’ roads and bridges, and build new schools.

Leading the capital push has been House Republican Leader Tom Cross.

“We’ve gone far too long without a new capital program,” Cross said. “The state cannot continue to ignore its infrastructure needs. If we don’t act soon, Illinois could lose more than $9.3 billion in federal transportation funds because we haven’t provided the state match. Our caucus is ready to work with the Governor and Democratic legislative leaders to pass a program that will meet the needs of the state and put Illinoisans back to work.”

Providing tax relief to working families and sparking job growth, the economic stimulus package would have beneficial advantages. Representatives Wait and Winters along with Leader Cross developed this package.

This package will include at least $10 billion of state money for capital investment in Illinois’ infrastructure, benefiting schools, higher education, roads, mass transit, and public safety. This would be matched by an additional $15 billion of federal and local dollars.

A sales tax holiday would be given to Illinois families and consumers at the same time as the distribution of the federal stimulus checks in May 2008. Working families would also receive tax relief which would increase the standard exemption from $2,000 to $3,000. Senior citizens will receive tax relief as well by expanding state programs for seniors, including the Senior Assessment Freeze and the Senior Homestead Exemption. Displaced workers would also be affected under the job training expense credit, as it helps to subsidize the costs of training and re-raining the unemployed.

“The Governor and Democrat-controlled General Assembly have proposed billions of dollars in new taxes at a time when our economy is really struggling,” Representative Winters said.  “The House Republican economic stimulus package stands in stark contrast to their anti-jobs agenda.  We need to pass this package to help turn our economy around and make Illinois a leader in job growth.”

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