Kane County Reporter

Rep. Jeff Keicher (R-Sycamore) is urging Gov. J.B. Pritzker to use federal funding to repay the federal loans the state took out to replenish its COVID-depleted unemployment trust fund.

"We have pushed the Governor to shore up the Unemployment Trust Fund $4.2 billion deficit with the COVID $8 billion sent to us from DC," Keicher wrote in a Sept. 14 Facebook post. "The unemployment issues are specifically COVID related and an authorized expense. He’s chosen not to do that and we have the money just sitting there… that’s not ownership of the problem."

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the state exhausted its unemployment trust fund and borrowed money from the federal government in the form of Title XII advances so unemployment benefits could continue to be paid out.

These advances were initially interest free, but began accruing 2.3% interest beginning Sept. 6. Route Fifty reported that as of that date, the U.S. Treasury Department listed Illinois as having an outstanding advance balance from the unemployment trust fund of more than $4.2 billion.

Steep tax hikes could be imposed on employers if the money isn't paid back soon.

This isn't the first time Keicher has been critical of the state's unemployment system. 

In May, Keicher called out The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) when his constituents reported that IDES operators were hanging up on callers.

"Illinoisans are still facing unacceptable wait times with IDES and are now being hung up on by the very people who are supposed to help them through the unemployment process," Keicher wrote in a May 7 Facebook post. "The administration has to be held accountable for these ongoing failures and provide real solutions for the people of Illinois."

He has also raised alarms on other topics including when Carol Pope, the legislative inspector general, stepped down.

"Democrats continued to block an ethics reform package this spring that would allow the Legislative Inspector General to go where the evidence leads," Keicher wrote in a July 14 Facebook post. "Instead they passed an ethics revision that didn’t address the issues revealed during multiple indictments and investigations but offered watered down measures that offer good speaking points. Now we have a woman with high integrity and a proven track record who is fed up with the sham LIG system she’s been asked to serve within resigning her position."