* Capitol News Illinois…

Lawmakers from both parties told officials from Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration on Thursday that the General Assembly should have some say in how the state spends the $7.5 billion in federal funds that Illinois expects to receive from the newly-enacted American Rescue Plan.

Those comments came during a virtual hearing of the House Revenue and Finance Committee that took place just hours after President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill into law.

“I think the legislature would like a say in appropriating money, given our role,” Rep. Michael Zalewski, D-Riverside, said to the director of the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget, Alexis Sturm. “So my hope is that you could convey that to the governor’s office and we can develop a framework to work together on that.” […]

In a separate interview Thursday, however, Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza said officials should not get too excited over the sudden influx of federal money.

“I think that, the first thing to keep in mind is that the majority of that money is spoken for, I do believe that,” Mendoza said. “As soon as we get that, the first thing that we should spend that stimulus money on is to pay back the money that we borrowed from the Federal Reserve for the state’s COVID and other medical expenses.”

* From the governor’s office late this afternoon…

“The Governor spoke with the Speaker and Senate President today about how the administration and the General Assembly can again collaborate on how to best use federal funds from the American Rescue Plan. The Governor appreciated the collaboration with the General Assembly last May to determine how to best use federal resources, and the partnership resulted in state investments that led the nation – especially in supporting childcare, small businesses and housing assistance.

“The administration has reached out to schedule initial meetings with members who lead the General Assembly’s appropriations work, and the Governor continues to look forward to collaborating again to build on the progress we made together last year. The Governor fundamentally believes that these one-time funds must be used responsibly to address the state’s debt and inject resources into the areas where they will have the most economic impact, with a special eye toward equity.”