Governor JB Pritzker says Illinois is making progress in paying down the money it owes on a loan to cover unemployment claims during the pandemic.
But the state still owes more than a billion dollars on that debt. When jobless claims soared during the pandemic, Illinois borrowed $4.5 billion from the feds to cover those costs. The state was able to use $2.7 billion in American Rescue Plan funds to repay some of the debt… and now Pritzker says steady gains in employment and record low jobless claims numbers have allowed the state to contribute an additional $450 million toward that debt.
Pritzker says he continues to work with labor and business groups to reach an agreement on how to retire the remaining $1.35 billion that’s owed.
