Members of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker’s team are now taking a red pen to their spending plans, after the governor ordered budget cuts brought on by what he says are the financial effects of the Trump Administration’s policies.
The governor’s executive order calls for across-the-board spending cuts of as much as 4% to use as reserves for next year … as well as a pause on non-essential spending.
“This is everybody’s responsibility,” the governor said Tuesday in explaining why he issued an executive order rather than a standard memo asking for budget cuts. “We’re gonna have to look at every nook and cranny in state government – to make sure that we are balancing the state budget, as has been promised.”
During an unrelated event in Joliet, the governor told reporters the White House’s cuts to funding for health and other human services … plus an economic slowdown he attributes to the President’s tariff plan … means the state needs to protect itself in the event that a recession affects Illinois.
He noted that while Illinois is doing “OK right now,” Iowa is seeing effects of an economic downturn.
“There are going to be severe effects on the state budget – and that’s going to be yet another conversation,” the governor said. “We’re gonna have to look at not only the 4%, but see what other things we can do to deal with the challenges that are brought upon us by Donald Trump.”
Republicans criticized the Governor’s efforts to cite President Trump as a reason for the cuts. State Senate Minority Leader John Curran (R-Downers Grove) issued a statement saying in part that the state has increased spending by 40% since Pritzker took office, and that government should cut spending no matter who the President is.
And state House Republican Leader Tony McCombie’s statement accused the governor of passing the buck on cuts to a budget that her party warned was bloated when it passed the Legislature.