Rockford Sun

Jeff Keicher, State Representative of the Illinois General Assembly, Republican Party, accused Gov. J.B. Pritzker of not doing enough to pay down the unemployment insurance fund debt. in a Sep 29th Facebook post.

Jeff Keicher was first elected to the Illinois House in 2018. His legislative experience includes serving on the Appropriations-Higher Education and Immigration & Human Rights Committee. Keicher resides in DeKalb, according to the Illinois House.

“The Governor finally gave into some of the pressure created by Republicans,” Keicher said. "However, there's $5 billion in unspent Federal Covid money that should be used to cover this hole."

In his Facebook post, Keicher shared a link to a Crain's Chicago Business article that announced the state's plan to reduce a $1.8 billion debt by $450 million.

The Federal Unemployment Trust Fund is funded by money paid by employers collected in payroll taxes. Illinois borrowed from the fund during the COVID-19 shutdowns so that the state could afford to pay unemployment claims. It is accruing interest at a rate of 1.59% annually. In March, lawmakers in March dedicated $2.7 billion in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding to pay down the deficit to the balance of roughly $1.8 billion.

Pritzker announced the plan to pay down the debt on Sept. 27 and said this payment reduces the debt owed by 25%, bringing it down to $1.3 billion.