South Cook News

Keith Pekau, the mayor of Orland Park and a Republican candidate for the U.S. House District 6, criticized U.S. Rep. Sean Casten's (D-Downers Grove) priorities.

The Democrats' new spending plan consists of nearly $80 billion in funding for the Internal Revenue Service, with $45.6 earmarked for "enforcement," CNBC reported. 

The IRS estimated that this funding would cover the costs of hiring 87,000 new employees, which has raised some concerns about the potential for increased audits, especially of Americans making a low-to-moderate income who claim the earned income tax credit (EITC).

"We've got a crisis at the Southern border and record crime in Chicago, but Sean Casten is more worried about your PayPal transactions," Casten wrote on Facebook on Aug. 15. "The funding for 87,000 IRS agents could be put to better use, I'd say. Additional border patrol agents to secure our border, grants for law enforcement and schools to make our communities safer, etc. With your support in November, we'll take back the House and make America's priorities Congress' priorities."

As of June 9, U.S. immigration officials reported intercepting more than 1.2 million people attempting to enter the country illegally through the Southern border, according to FIU News. In 2021, immigration officials encountered more than 1.7 million people attempting to enter the country illegally, which was more than three times the number of migrant encounters reported in 2020.

As of Aug. 14, there have been 411 murders, 1,268 criminal sexual assaults, 5,043 robberies, 3,640 aggravated batteries, 4,540 burglaries, 11,569 thefts, 8,992 motor vehicle thefts and 1,758 shooting incidents reported in the city of Chicago in 2022, according to data from the Chicago Police Department.

Pekau won the Republican nomination for Illinois' 6th District U.S. House seat in June, and he will face off against incumbent Casten in the November general election, according to Ballotpedia.