LITCHFIELD — On Tuesday, Speaker of the House Mike Madigan’s Chief of Staff announced that the fall veto session is canceled due to concerns over COVID-19 and proximity to the upcoming holidays. In response to the announcement, State Representative Avery Bourne (R-Morrisonville) issued the following statement:
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“I’m very disappointed that the Speaker has chosen to cancel the legislature’s scheduled Veto Session. We have important work to do— including reining in Governor Pritzker’s executive power. Congress is figuring out how to meet, other states are too. Certainly there are public health concerns, but the Illinois legislature has safely met before during this pandemic. There was testing, more than enough space for social distancing, and it was run well. People are doing their jobs every day with fewer precautions than we would be afforded.
“We can do our jobs and people are depending on us to do our job. This cancellation is more about the pending leadership challenge within Madigan’s caucus. It’s a shame Speaker Madigan would rather protect his own power than allow the legislature to do our work.”
