Politics & Government
Pension Reform Overshadows All Other Issues, McSweeney Says
Freshman state rep says the problem is even bigger than he thought when he first took office.
If new State Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, could pass just one piece of legislation, it would be pension reform.
"There’s no doubt about it, if we could pass a good pension bill," he told Reboot Illinois in a recent Q&A. "We made some good progress in the House with the three measures that we passed. Limiting the cost of living adjustments, raising the retirement age and putting in place a salary cap for pensions. There’s nowhere to start unless we do pension reform because that obviously has a big effect on the budget."
The freshman Republican, a Barrington Hills investment banker and former Palatine Township trustee, would also repeal the income tax increase, calling it a "disaster."
Enacting pension reform would allow the state to turn its attention to jobs and economic development, McSweeney believes.
With less than a week left in this legislative session, McSweeney's first, pension reform appears to still be a problem without resolution. No compromise has been reached on the competing House and Senate plans.
Read a recent McSweeney op-ed on Reboot Illinois about pension reform, a problem that's much worse than he thought before he took office.
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