Illinois already borrowed $1.2 billion from the MLF earlier this year in an attempt to close some of the state's 2020 budget shortfall.

The borrowing is significant since Illinois is the only state in the country to tap the MLF. The Fed created the MLF in April to be a "lender of last resort," where cities, states and other government entities can go if they can't raise money as a result of COVID-19. The governor's comments are an admission that the normal financial markets aren't willing to lend money to Illinois at competitive terms. 

Normally, billions are raised by cities and states in the municipal bond market, where banks, insurance companies and all types of financial entities lend money directly to governments. But COVID put all that at risk, leading the Fed to step in to make sure governments had somewhere to go if the markets weren't working.