Kendall County Times

Illinois state Sen. Jim Oberweis (D-Sugar Grove) does not want to see some of the people he believes have been most hurt by the COVID-19 outbreak victimized all over again.

“We are facing a real crisis,” Oberweis told the Kendall County Times. “We need to make sure people filing for unemployment in Illinois are getting the help they need. This is not some made up crisis being pushed by special interest groups. This is a real-life crisis facing our state and our country.”

Part of Oberweis’ crusade includes his calling on Gov. J.B. Pritzker to prioritize changes needed to assure unemployment benefits for self-employed or “gig” workers instead of forcing them to have to wait weeks longer just to be able to apply. Though such workers now constitute one out of every five across the state, they were not represented in the recently signed federal stimulus law and have been told they won’t be eligible to apply for benefits on the Illinois Department of Employment Security’s (IDES) website for at least three more weeks.

“Our governor’s stay-at-home order effectively shut down self-employed workers about a month ago, leaving many wondering if they will be able to make ends meet,” Oberweis added in a post to his website. “And now, even with assistance available from the federal government, they are being told it could be another month. This is not acceptable.”

Beyond that, Oberweis says he is convinced the time has come for the government to roll back all its restrictions and allow states to restart their economies.

“We need to set goals and we need to have a plan,” he said. “Countries in Europe are rolling back restrictions. We are not that far behind them in terms of the impact of this disease. We need to begin the process of safely bringing our economy back online. The longer we keep the lockdown, the more suicides and physical abuse we have to contend with, to say nothing of the destructive results to our economy, which will cause many people severe problems in the future.”