While there is more work to be done, progress has happened here in Springfield.

In just four days, ambitious legislation was passed that invests in core priorities and continues to innovate the way our government operates in the face of this global pandemic.

The budget the legislature sent to my desk acknowledges that massive economic disruption leads to difficult decisions.

But even in the most challenging of circumstances, this administration will never balance a budget on the backs of our working families and our most vulnerable.

I will continue to advocate for a national program to help state & local governments restore revenues taken away by #COVID19 — revenues that fund our children’s schools and public hospitals, that pay for the salaries of our teachers and first responders and that support families.

Just as there was assistance to help the biggest businesses & corporations – assistance that only the federal government can offer – there must also be unrestricted support for states, counties & cities who are on the front lines of helping working families & our most vulnerable.

This is an essential investment for all the states: states like Illinois that pay more to the federal government than we get back from them every year as well as states like West Virginia, Maryland and Alaska that benefit from federal largesse.

Because this is the moment that government is for – to be there for people who are in need, people who are falling through the cracks, people who never expected themselves to need a helping hand from anyone else – but now they do.

We have to take care of people in this country.

This is not the time to bulldoze the very structures that support our healthcare systems and schools, clean water and clean air, greater public safety, more job-creating small businesses, care for our most vulnerable children and seniors.

In a moment when we are calling on our residents to act not for themselves but for their communities – we have to ensure our governments can do the same.