The Illinois Senate on Thursday passed legislation to allocate $2.7 billion in relief aid to pay down more than half the debt the state owes to the federal government after depleting its unemployment insurance trust fund, Bloomberg News reported. The measure uses American Rescue Plan Act funds to help pay down Illinois’s roughly $4.5 billion loan it took from the federal government to pay benefits when joblessness soared during the pandemic. The bill passed the Senate for a concurrence vote after the Illinois House passed an amended version on Wednesday. It passed the Senate 39 to 16, and now heads to Governor J.B. Pritzker’s desk.
