Dupage Policy Journal

As the battle against COVID-19 continues, state Rep. Amy Grant (R-Wheaton) thinks residents are being energized by their weariness.

“I think people have grown tired of about how this crisis is being handled,” Grant told the DuPage Policy Journal. “I think they’ve grown tired of a governor who makes decisions to give executive orders about the virus and does it entirely on his own with no input from Legislature.”

Hundreds of protesters recently took to the streets for demonstrations in downtown Chicago and Springfield, rallying outside of government buildings where they demanded that Gov. J.B. Pritzker immediately pull the plug on the stay-at-home order he recently extended through the end of May as a way of mitigating the spread of the virus.

“People are ready to get back to work,” Grant said. “As lawmakers, I think we should be back in session to make that happen. Other states are doing (it), and I see no reason why we shouldn’t being doing the same thing. The only thing preventing us from being back is our governor and House Speaker Mike Madigan are quote happy not having to think about legislators.”

While Grant concedes the governor took a small step in the right direction by recently loosening some restrictions, she argues he didn’t go nearly far enough, especially as it relates to the shackles placed on small businesses.  

“Right now, they’re on the brink of financial ruin,” she said. “We can and should open up our economy because people are really hurting. There are businesses facing the real possibility of never being able to bounce back and we need to be doing what we can to restore the livelihoods of those people with their families in mind.