Pritzker Advances Fiscal
Responsibility, Invests in Working Families in FY25 Budget
Building on fiscal progress, budget
invests in healthcare, education, and economic development
Send a link to a friend
[February 21, 2024]
Building
on five years of fiscal progress, Governor Pritzker’s sixth balanced
budget proposal will continue on the path of fiscal responsibility,
introduce new investments in healthcare accessibility and equity,
and build on our historic progress in education and economic
development.
Please see below for links to the proposed FY25 budget as well as
the Governor’s remarks as prepared for delivery:
Fiscal Year 2025 Operating Budget
Fiscal Year 2025 Capital Budget
Fiscal Year 2025 Budget in Brief
State of the State and Budget Address
Wednesday, February 21st, 2024
*Remarks As Prepared For Delivery*
Speaker Welch, President Harmon, Lieutenant Governor
Stratton, my fellow constitutional officers, members of the 103rd
General Assembly, Chief Justice Theis and members of the Supreme
Court, honored guests, the First Lady of Illinois, my soulmate, MK,
and all the people of the great state of Illinois, I am so grateful
to be here to deliver my sixth State of the State and Budget
address.
I love my job. I love living in Illinois and spending every day
working to improve the lives of our residents. In a world seemingly
filled with chaos, it’s a privilege to be tasked with bringing
stability and progress.
We live in a state that’s filled with people who exude decency and
kindness. And if you take the time to listen, Illinoisans will tell
you rich and rewarding stories about how we came to be who we are.
Here in Springfield, one of the most interesting guys I know is Ian
Hunt, the head of acquisitions at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential
Library and Museum. And if you ask Ian, he will tell you one of my
favorite stories.
Illinois owns an original version of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
It’s known as the Everett Copy—one of only five to have been
handwritten by Abraham Lincoln himself. It’s named after Edward
Everett—a famed orator and a former Massachusetts Senator and
Governor.
At Gettysburg on November 19, 1863, Everett was the other guy who
spoke. He gave a two-hour speech—that almost no one remembers. When
Everett was finished, Abraham Lincoln got up and delivered a
two-minute speech that has never been forgotten.
A life lesson for every politician.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Feb/22/images/ads/current/library_lda_EDUCATION_2024.png)
The Everett Copy of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address
remained in private hands for almost 80 years. And then in 1943,
with a world war raging across the globe, word came to Illinois
Governor Dwight Green. The owner of the Everett Copy had passed away
and the document was likely to be auctioned off.
Governor Green desperately wanted Illinois to own this priceless
piece of history that is so intimately connected to our most famous
son. So, his administration came to an agreement with the seller to
purchase it for $60,000.
The problem was Illinois didn’t have $60,000 to spend on the
Gettysburg Address in 1943. And Governor Green knew this.
So, he did something unusual. He enlisted the school children of
Illinois to collect pennies and nickels to raise the money.
There must have been some skepticism that kids were going to come up
with enough cash for the Gettysburg Address—especially in the middle
of a world war, and on the heels of the Great Depression.
But no one should ever doubt the children of Illinois.
A few years ago, a newspaper interviewed a Springfield man named
Gene Rubley who noted that, as a young boy in 1943, he sacrificed
his Saturday afternoon movie for a few months so he could give his
weekly allowance to the donation drive.
It took the children of Illinois only six months to raise $40,000.
Marshall Field III, the grandson of the famous department store
magnate, helped with the rest. In March of 1944, almost exactly
eighty years ago, four schoolchildren presented the handwritten
Gettysburg Address to the Illinois state historical library, and it
has been our most valuable state artifact ever since.
I love this story. It has everything. Imagination, ingenuity,
sacrifice, patriotism. It includes elected officials who didn’t stop
at no—and children, with a vision beyond their years, doing
something important for our future.
It’s a story about how, penny by penny, Illinoisans once saved
something important. It’s a story about our past, but it’s also a
story about who we are today.
Because penny by penny, we are still working together saving
important things for our state.
Five years ago, when people said we couldn’t do it, many of us went
to work eliminating our bill backlog and balancing five state
budgets in a row. We created a $2 billion Rainy Day Fund. We
achieved nine credit upgrades. And in the face of a pandemic and
high inflation, we delivered historic tax relief, provided record
levels of rental and mortgage assistance, and reduced interest costs
by paying off more than $11 billion in debt.
We’ve also grown Illinois’ economy to over $1 trillion. That’s more
than most nations. In 2023 alone, we attracted billions of dollars
in new business investments and created tens of thousands of new
jobs.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Jul/22/images/ads/current/rohlfs_lda_072017.png)
In fact, on average, a new business moved to Illinois
or expanded here every single day last year.
Thanks to our bipartisan tax credit legislation, Illinois is now the
world’s fourth largest data center market, and we broke an all-time
record for film and TV production revenue. Tourism is booming. Last
year, Illinois’ hotel industry set a record at $5.5 billion.
In the Midwest, we are now the number one state for workforce
development. Across all fifty states, we are number two for
infrastructure. Number two for education. Number three for power
grid reliability. We have the number one and number two best
business schools in the country. Since 2018, we moved up a whopping
thirteen spots in CNBC’s Best States for Business.
These are the things that matter to businesses looking for a home.
Where their workforce can live, work, and play affordably and with
world class healthcare and education.
Now we have a lot of work left to do—but we, together, have met this
moment we are in. Do not let the doom grifters steal your optimism
about what’s ahead for Illinois. Our future is bright, and
opportunity lies ahead.
EARLY CHILDHOOD
Last year, we launched a groundbreaking, multi-year plan called
Smart Start to make Illinois the best state in the nation for
preschool, child care, early intervention, and home visiting.
It’s already making a huge difference for young families across
Illinois. We thought we would be able to add 5,000 preschool seats
by the end of year one. We exceeded that goal by fifteen percent. We
created 5,823 new preschool spots, all of which are options parents
didn’t have before. As a result, right now we have over 82,000
publicly-funded preschool classroom seats—the highest number in our
state’s history. Staying on the Smart Start plan, we will achieve
universal preschool by 2027.
Smart Start also expanded access to early intervention and
evidence-based home visiting services for families with babies and
young children by adding 26 more programs serving nearly 3,000 more
kids. And we established the nation-leading Early Childhood
Workforce Grant program, thanks to our initial investment of $130
million—stabilizing and raising wages for a workforce that is
primarily women and people of color. That helps providers maintain
and grow staffing, while still delivering the quality care that
Illinois children deserve.
Smart Start is having the desired benefit for working parents and
their children. Childcare utilization rates are higher than ever
before with 166,000 children receiving services. There was a real
fear that our entire childcare system might crumble in the wake of
the pandemic. Instead, it’s growing.
Heather Andrade is a Rochester parent, and when I recently visited
her, she told me that Smart Start has changed her child’s life. In
2019, after a tremendously difficult pregnancy, Heather brought
little Natalia into this world—a healthy, happy little baby. But as
Natalia grew, Heather noticed that she was experiencing some delays
in her development—and in her speech. Heather knew she needed help.
Thanks to Smart Start, Rochester EC1 was able to open a full day
program—offering early childhood education and childcare, including
early intervention services, like speech therapy.
Since Natalia’s first day in the program, her progress has been
nothing short of remarkable. She can spell and write her name. Once
nonverbal, Natalia now talks so much that they’re even considering
pulling her out of speech therapy. Natalia is on track to thrive
when she enters kindergarten, and her path ahead couldn’t be
brighter.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Feb/22/images/ads/current/debbiesfloral_lda_021424.png)
Heather’s success story as a mom stands as a
testimonial. It reminds us of all the parents out there who need
just a little extra help to give their kids that smart start.
Heather is here today, and I ask you to give her a round of
applause.
It’s with Heather and Natalia in mind that I propose we stay on plan
and increase Smart Start funding by $150 million in year two to
create 5,000 more preschool seats, continue growing childcare, and
reach thousands more families with critical early childhood
services. And I also ask that in this budget we begin the first
phase of consolidating state government’s early childhood programs
into one agency called the Department of Early Childhood.
With a $13 million investment, parents and providers will have a
one-stop shop for resources and programs—from finding child care and
preschool to accessing Early Childhood Block Grants and daycare
licensing.
K-12 EDUCATION
Nearly every study shows that investing in early childhood isn’t
just about your child’s first five years. It’s also about paving the
way for success in their K-12 education and beyond.
Every single year I have been Governor, we have increased our
investments in education, because a quality education is the
foundation of a good life and the cornerstone of a strong society.
It’s why education has been a central tenet of all six budgets I
have proposed. There have been some standout champions among you
like Majority Leader Lightford and Senator Loughren Cappel along
with Representatives Davis and Stuart who have spent their entire
careers fighting for our public schools—all while weighing the tough
choices to keep our budget in balance.
And the results are plain to see. In 2023, US News ranked Illinois
high school students number two in the nation in college readiness,
and CNBC ranked Illinois number two overall for education. We
notched our highest graduation rate in thirteen years, and teacher
retention was the highest ever on record. The rate of ninth graders
on track to graduate now exceeds pre-pandemic levels. Chronic
absenteeism is turning around, and proficiency in both English
language arts and math increased dramatically.
We can draw a direct line from these results to last year’s budget.
Our $45 million teacher pipeline grant program brought 5,384 new
teachers into the field—reaching more than 730,000 students in 170
districts with the highest need. Teachers are the single most
important investment we can make in our schools. So, I propose we
invest another $45 million in the teacher pipeline, bringing
thousands more educators into the field.
The evidence-based funding model is working, so my budget proposal
follows the EBF law’s recommendation, increasing it again by $350
million. And we will fully fund special education and continue
increasing funding for school transportation by $30 million.
HIGHER EDUCATION
Higher education continues its tremendous upward trajectory. For the
second year in a row, the Illinois Community College system
celebrated historic headcounts—marking the second largest increase
in enrollment numbers in the last thirty years, and far higher than
the rest of the United States.
More Illinois students are now taking advantage of our great
colleges and universities with well-funded MAP grant and AIM HIGH
scholarship programs. The net tuition cost for most Illinois
students attending Illinois schools continues to decline. Our higher
education institutions are on the rise, and it’s important that year
in and year out, even in lean budget years, we demonstrate a
commitment to these institutions—which is why my budget proposal
includes a more than $30 million increase in direct operating
support for public higher education institutions, and that’s on top
of continuing record capital investments we are making through
Rebuild Illinois.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Feb/22/images/ads/current/graue_sda_042021.png)
HUMAN SERVICES WORKFORCE
Improving educational attainment and retention is assisting private
industry to overcome the Illinois workforce shortage—and it’s also
having a similar effect in state government. We are finally moving
closer to achieving the staffing levels we need to support our work.
The Departments on Aging, Human Services, Healthcare and Family
Services: every social service agency has improved its hiring to
fill out its budgeted headcount. DCFS, for example, has achieved its
highest staffing in more than fifteen years, through a combination
of funding, ingenuity, and sheer hard work.
DCFS is more focused than ever on how to best protect Illinois
children. Today, nearly every call to the abuse and neglect hotline
is answered immediately. That’s up from only 50% back in 2019. Of
the more than 94,525 investigations conducted last year by DCFS,
99.7% were initiated within 24 hours. And within seven days, 96% of
children have been seen by an investigator. With an additional $14
million in funding in FY25, DCFS will reach a headcount of 4,000
staff for the first time in more than two decades.
As always, there is more to do, and DCFS is committed to doing it. I
want to thank outgoing DCFS Director Marc Smith for his five years
of service in the state’s most difficult job, and I also want to
welcome incoming director Heidi Mueller, who served two
gubernatorial administrations as the pioneering head of the
Department of Juvenile Justice. I’ve visited many DJJ facilities
over my time in office, and it’s impossible to ignore the trust and
admiration the state’s most vulnerable children have for her. We are
lucky to have her in this new role.
The people who work at DCFS are witness to trauma and heartbreak
every single day. They are rarely lauded for their successes, and
most often used as a convenient punching bag for larger societal
issues. They work long hours, and on occasion, these heroic workers
have been the subject of threats and violence. I want them to know
that I see them—that I see their work—and that I am incredibly
grateful for their service. I ask each of you in this chamber to
offer them your gratitude too. Their dedication is worthy of
recognition.
CONSUMER PROTECTION & NETWORK ADEQUACY
Restoring the safety net has been a goal of mine from the very
beginning. But to do so, we’ve had to work on transforming our
healthcare ecosystem. After so many years of neglect, we’ve begun to
turn things around by reducing the price of prescription drugs,
implementing hospital transformation, and enacting a lower cost
state-based health insurance marketplace.
I want to particularly thank Senators Linda Holmes, Ann Gillespie,
and Laura Fine as well as Leader Robyn Gabel for their
groundbreaking work on healthcare reform over the last few years.
Now it’s time we take another giant leap forward. This legislative
session, I am introducing a bill to curb predatory insurance
practices—putting power back into the hands of patients and their
doctors.
It’s called the Healthcare Consumer Access and Protection Act, and
it has three parts. The first part targets a practice called
utilization management. What is utilization management? That’s
insurance-speak for denying coverage. Utilization management allows
insurance companies to boost profits by requiring that consumers get
permission before they receive care. It won’t surprise you to know
that those requests are frequently denied. One method of utilization
management is referred to as “prior authorization,” where a consumer
must get permission from the insurance company to get treatment
their own doctor has deemed medically necessary. Another method of
utilization management is called “step therapy,” where a patient is
forced to try a less effective treatment and then have that fail
before getting the actual quality care their doctors said they
needed in the first place. Any doctor you talk to will tell you how
much they loathe these practices and how often they are used to deny
patients the medications and treatments they desperately need.
Almost everyone has a horror story about prior authorizations and
step therapy. Lest you think I’m exaggerating, let me share one such
story. One of our state employees was diagnosed by his cardiologist
with serious heart disease and scheduled open heart surgery. Three
days before the procedure, which took a month to schedule, the
health insurer denied the prior authorization request. The insurance
company made the decision, without consulting this person’s doctor,
that heart surgery was unnecessary—leaving the employee to cover the
cost out of pocket. It was only after my office got involved at the
request of this individual’s family—who was afraid he could die—that
the prior authorization was granted.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Feb/22/images/ads/current/fcs_funeral_lda_border_04029022.png)
That is simply unacceptable. Doctors and their
patients should be making decisions about patient care. There should
never be an instance where an insurance company employee can deny
coverage for something as serious as open heart surgery. We should
never, ever, ever, ever cede those decisions to the whims of
insurance executives whose focus is always on the bottom line. When
it comes to patient care, the only bottom line that really matters
is what needs to be done to keep people healthy.
The legislation I am proposing would totally ban step therapy in
Illinois, and force insurance companies to use the same definitions
of medical necessity that doctors use.
Among the other features of this bill, Illinois will become the
first state in the nation to ban prior authorization for in-patient
adult and children’s mental health care. That means patients
suffering a mental health crisis can get the care they need without
jumping through hoops designed to deny coverage. And we are going to
make sure that insurance plans publicly post all treatments that
require prior authorization, so consumers can compare plans when
they are shopping for coverage.
We are also going to prohibit insurance companies from selling Short
Term Limited Duration plans, also known as junk insurance. These are
plans that seem enticing because they offer lower premiums to bridge
gaps in insurance coverage. But in reality, these plans fail to meet
even the minimum standards of the Affordable Care Act. They don’t
cover pre-existing conditions. They don’t cover maternal healthcare.
They don’t cover mental health and substance use treatment, or
prescription drugs. Like twelve other states, it’s time for Illinois
to ban junk insurance plans.
[to top of second column] |
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/May/02/images/ads/current/guzzardo_lda022609.png)
The second part of this
legislation covers network adequacy. That’s the standard
insurance companies must meet to ensure there are enough
in-network doctors to treat consumers when and where they need
healthcare. In recent years, we’ve seen the rise of “ghost
networks.” That’s where an in-network directory shows doctors
and specialists who in reality either aren’t accepting any new
patients, aren’t in-network, or don’t exist at all.
Health insurance companies should be helping
consumers get quality care. Not tricking them. So, we’re going to
require insurance companies to update their in-network directories
of doctors to reflect the actual availability of healthcare, and
we’re going to punish them if they don’t.
The third piece of the Healthcare Consumer Access and Protection Act
prevents insurance companies from unfairly increasing rates on
consumers. Last year, my administration was proud to work with
members of the Senate, House, and other stakeholders to end
unchecked rate increases in the small group insurance market who
serve small businesses and individuals. This year, we’re going to
require that large group insurance carriers do the same.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Feb/22/images/ads/current/zionpulaski_lda_EDUCATION_2024.png)
I’m haunted by the reality that there are Illinoisans
who are suffering and, in some cases have died, because they lost a
battle with an insurance company. I have talked to people who have
just given up because of the mountains of paperwork, or the endless
search for an in-network doctor, or the dozens of hours on the phone
arguing with an unsympathetic insurance company. Getting the
healthcare you need shouldn’t be this hard.
Now I know how hard the insurance industry will fight me on this.
But let me be perfectly clear: I am willing to spend serious
political capital and put my shoulder to the wheel to get this done.
It will save lives and lower healthcare costs for millions of
Illinoisans.
MEDICAL DEBT
It’s also time to help those who have suffered financial harm, often
through no fault of their own, from past failures of a broken health
insurance and healthcare billing system. Treating a health emergency
is not an optional expense. But too many Illinoisans have had their
credit ruined or have been pushed into bankruptcy when they had one
unexpected accident or one prolonged illness.
So today, I propose that over the next four years we eliminate $4
billion of medical debt for over 1 million Illinoisans. Working with
a national non-profit called RIP Medical Debt, it costs on average
one penny to buy back and eliminate every dollar of medical debt,
and we can start this year with a $10 million dollar appropriation
to relieve nearly $1 billion in medical debt for the first cohort of
340,000 Illinoisans. County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has
already done this for residents of Cook County. Let’s make this a
reality for all of Illinois.
MATERNAL HEALTH
In Illinois, a serious effort to reduce maternal mortality rates is
long overdue. And Black women in our state are three times more
likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women. It’s
imperative that we act now, ensuring that as we do, we also reduce
and eliminate racial disparities.
The current system is failing our most vulnerable women and babies.
The solution lies, as it often does, at the community level. Dr.
Jeanine Valrie-Logan is a certified nurse-midwife at the Birth
Center PCC in Berwyn—the first freestanding non-profit birthing
center to open in Illinois.
But in Jeanine’s home community on the Southside of Chicago, no such
center has ever existed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Feb/22/images/ads/current/longview_lda_EDUCATION_2024.png)
After years of mobilizing and submitting grant
applications, Jeanine finally is able to open the Chicago Southside
Birth Center to meet her neighborhood’s needs—offering a full
spectrum of reproductive care from contraception, STI screenings,
and abortion to pre-natal, birthing, and post-partum care. It can be
a model for how Illinois can decrease Black maternal mortality.
Because of work my administration has already done, beginning this
year, doulas, midwives, and lactation consultants can now be
recognized as Medicaid healthcare providers, ensuring that they can
be fairly compensated. That will make more services more readily
available to communities with the highest mortality rates.
But we can do even more. I intend to break down bureaucratic
barriers in state government by coordinating work across agencies to
improve access to a full spectrum of reproductive healthcare
services. Our Department of Public Health will provide grants to
assist providers with Medicaid certification and licensing
associated with starting and sustaining a community-based practice.
We’ll also invest an additional $1 million in DCEO capital grants
related to the cost of opening.
And DHS will invest $1 million in a pilot program to ensure new moms
and babies have clean diapers, along with an additional $5 million
into home visiting for our most vulnerable families to connect new
moms and babies with resources they need to be healthy and thrive
during babies’ first year of life.
My budget also proposes investing $12 million to create a Child Tax
Credit for families raising our youngest children. By targeting this
investment at low and middle-income families with children under 3,
we can put money back in the pockets of our newest parents who need
it most and make those early years just a little bit easier.
Altogether, we’re making a $23 million investment that will put us
on a path to birth equity—a path and a destination Jeanine and her
colleagues in the field can be proud of.
Jeanine is here today, and I would ask her to stand and be
recognized.
GROCERY TAX
One of my missions as governor is to make life easier for working
families. Establishing a child tax credit, eliminating medical debt,
lowering the cost of healthcare, making it easier to get a college
education, bringing quality childcare closer to home so moms and
dads can go to work—these are not esoteric policy proposals but
actually do lift burdens everyday Illinoisans face. And even though
inflation continues to cool off, folks are still feeling the squeeze
every week at the grocery store.
So, there’s one more thing we ought to do. For the good of our
state’s working families, let’s permanently eliminate the grocery
tax!
It’s one more regressive tax we just don’t need. If it reduces
inflation for families from 4% to 3%, even if it only puts a few
hundred bucks back in families’ pockets, it’s the right thing to do.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/Sep/05/images/ads/current/stclara_lda_SPONSOR_090519.png)
COMBATTING HOMELESSNESS
Food access is far from the only necessity we are tackling. In 2021,
I signed an executive order that launched Home Illinois, a whole of
government approach to prevent and end homelessness. And last year,
we put this plan into action—investing $200 million into prevention,
crisis response, housing units, and staffing, to ensure that every
person has a fighting chance. In a matter of months, Home Illinois
sustained and created thousands of new shelter beds for long time
Illinois residents across the state. We provided housing and
services to young adults aging out of foster care who were at-risk
of becoming unhoused, and we gave one-time financial support to
working Illinoisans who, due to an acute crisis, fell behind on
their rent and risked losing their home or their apartment. We kept
thousands of Illinois families in their homes—people who might
otherwise have become unhoused.
Take, Jasmine for example. Jasmine was living in her car with her
five children while she was eight months into a high-risk pregnancy.
When Jasmine was finally connected to Housing Forward, a homeless
services agency in Oak Park, they immediately took her in—providing
shelter and wraparound clinical services. While at Housing Forward’s
RISE Center, Jasmine gave birth to a healthy little baby, enrolled
her kids in early childhood education, registered for a GED program,
and now Jasmine is looking for employment. Today, she’s on the path
to permanent housing.
There are many hundreds of people like Jasmine out there in need of
help. And we know that Black individuals and families make up 61% of
the unhoused while making up only 14% of the overall population. So,
this year, we created a racial equity roundtable on Black
homelessness—the only effort of this kind in the entire nation. To
advance that work, I am proposing an additional $50 million to
attack the root causes of housing insecurity for Black Illinoisans,
while continuing to serve other at-risk populations like veterans
and those who are medically vulnerable with the shelter and
wraparound services they need.
Underlying Home Illinois is the belief that this state values the
dignity of human life and the universal right to a safe home. Not so
with all states.
ASYLUM SEEKERS RESPONSE
“I would build a wall of steel, a wall as high as Heaven, against
the admission of a single one of those Southern Europeans who never
thought the thoughts or spoke the language of a democracy in their
lives.”
Those words were spoken a hundred years ago by Georgia Governor
Clifford Walker at a Ku Klux Klan rally. But the reality is, it
could have been a social media post by President Trump last week.
Time might march forward, but our society’s worst impulses seem
never to go away.
I’ve spoken many times about my own family’s refugee history. I will
not join the chorus of people in this country or in this chamber who
eagerly look to slam shut an immigration door that was once open to
our ancestors.
Over the last eighteen months, more than 35,000 asylum seekers have
arrived in Illinois. Most of them landed here in buses sent by
Governor Abbott of Texas. Abbott willfully planned the arrival of
these individuals in locations and at times that would engender the
maximum chaos for the city of Chicago and for the asylum seekers
themselves. Children, pregnant women, and the elderly have been sent
here in the dead of night, left far from our designated welcome
centers, in freezing temperatures, wearing flip flops and T-shirts.
Think about that the next time a politician from Texas wants to
lecture you about being a good Christian.
Our immigration system has been broken for a long time. No doubt,
the current migrant crisis is a problem of the federal government’s
making, and I mean both political parties.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Feb/22/images/ads/current/napa_lda_FILTERSALE_012924.png)
I am sure that when I leave the podium today, there
will be some who will walk outside this chamber, looking for a
microphone so they can start yelling about sanctuary cities and
immigrants taking our tax dollars.
I hope that the press covering those statements will ask these
politicians one important question: “did you or did you not support
the federal immigration bill that the White House agreed to with
Senate Republicans?”
There was a chance two weeks ago for a breakthrough on immigration
policy. And the President and Congressional Democrats did what most
voters say they want from leaders—they sat at a table with
Republicans and negotiated a bipartisan compromise.
The White House announced a bill that was supported by top
Republican leadership in the Senate—and then within
hours—hours—Republicans who had helped write the legislation
announced they were suddenly against the legislation.
Including, most glaringly, every single Republican member of the
Illinois Congressional delegation.
Why did this happen? Why did every single Republican run away from
something they claimed they desperately want? Because Donald Trump
told them to, and they’re afraid of him. And why did Trump tell them
to reject the bill? Because he wanted to use the issue of
immigration against President Biden in the November elections.
I’m not making hyperbolic statements. Donald Trump said that out
loud.
That bill would have helped Illinois. It would have provided money
and resources that we don’t normally receive as a state far from the
Southern border.
Maybe some Republicans find it hard to put country over Party. But
our obligations to the people we represent supersede the letter
after our names.
Joe Biden has been a very good president who has rescued the economy
and protected freedom. But states and cities in the country’s
interior are not equipped alone to handle the rapid influx of new
arrivals we have seen. The White House and the federal government
need to step up—to coordinate and manage these asylum seekers when
they cross the border and are in federal custody, and not leave it
to the Governor of Texas who has no goal but to sow chaos and
destruction.
Listen, maybe some of you think we should just say, “this is not our
problem,” and that we should let the migrant families starve or
freeze to death. But that’s not what decent Midwesterners do. That’s
not what leaders do.
We didn’t ask for this manufactured crisis. But we must deal with it
all the same.
With our partners in Cook County and the City of Chicago, my
administration has worked to develop a cost effective and
comprehensive response plan over the next twelve months. We used the
most reliable data available and estimated what it would take to
ensure that the most basic human needs are met for asylum seekers
arriving in Chicago.
This plan also includes continuing our efforts to divert as many
people as possible away from temporary shelter to more permanent
settlement, wherever that may be. Not because we are unwelcoming of
immigrants. But because Chicago’s shelter system is near capacity,
and it is dangerous if migrants have no shelter or support at all.
To date, we’ve moved 9,000 individuals through the process—from
arrival, to temporary shelter, to independent housing and
self-sufficiency. Thousands of others have moved on to find family
or sponsors. We’ve also helped thousands through the Temporary
Protected Status and Employment Authorization process so they can
legally work. Private industry in Illinois has expressed a strong
desire to hire those who are authorized to work.
I committed to the Mayor of Chicago and the Cook County Board
President that I would come to the General Assembly and ask for
funding for a little over fifty percent of the cost of this
plan—which comes to $181.7 million.
We don’t have any clear idea how long Governor Abbott intends to
hold the nation hostage, but his political stunt will eventually
come to an end. So, let’s start planning for its aftermath—ensuring
that during the coming fiscal year, some of the thirty temporary
migrant shelters can and ought to be converted to other productive
uses—as determined by the communities themselves. Neighborhood
clinics, community centers, workforce training, housing—there are
lots of good ideas I’ve heard from people, so we have designated $5
million in this budget for shelter conversion grants.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Feb/22/images/ads/current/businessdirectory_dailycover_2023.png)
I won’t pretend any of this is easy, but it would be
irresponsible to do anything but come here, lay out the scope of the
challenge, tell you what I think we need to do, and then work with
you to make it happen.
Personally, I think each of us should follow the examples set by the
good people of our state.
Evanston’s Mike Moyer is fixing up bicycles to donate to migrants.
Chicago’s Samantha Oulavong is teaching English to our new neighbors
on a South Loop basketball court. And then there’s Oak Park’s Elaine
Pierce. A retiree, Elaine opened her modest two-story, three-bedroom
home to seven “new family members,” as she would say—absorbing all
the costs on her own. Mike, Samantha, and Elaine are among the best
of us—epitomizing what it means to be an Illinoisan through and
through.
Our FY25 budget proposal makes some hard choices. I wish we had big
surpluses to work with this year to take on every one of the very
real challenges we face.
It’s important to note, that while this budget is tight this year,
our fiscal house is in order, and we are able to keep our
commitments to the people of Illinois. This year’s budget proposal
is focused and disciplined, and because of the responsible actions
we took in the last few years paying off state debt and treating
federal pandemic relief as one time revenue, we are not facing the
budgetary challenges that other big states are this year.
California, for example, has a $38 billion deficit to contend with.
Meanwhile, Illinois’ budget is balanced, and it builds upon all of
the progress we have made, paying our pensions in full, investing
more in our public schools, social services, and healthcare while
addressing the immediate and unique needs of the coming fiscal year.
Now, I expect that some of you will want to spend more, and some of
you will claim you want to spend less. Know this: I am always open
to good ideas that members of both parties have to more efficiently
and effectively fulfill our obligations.
My one line in the sand is that I will only sign a budget that is
responsibly balanced and that does not diminish or derail the
improving credit standing we have achieved for the last five years.
Eighty years ago, in the middle of a world war, our state decided it
wanted to preserve an important memento of our past. Governor Green
knew that Illinoisans in every corner of the state were watching
their family, friends and neighbors die half a world away fighting
fascism. Good leaders are practical, but they also know the power of
totems—especially virtuous ones.
It’s poetic and prophetic that it was children who came to the
rescue in 1943 to enable the acquisition of one of Illinois’ true
jewels. Somehow, it’s always our kids who know how to contextualize
the past while reaching for our future.
I’m struck by the words of Gene Rubley, that Springfield boy who
gave up his movie money every week to donate to the Gettysburg
Address effort. He noted, years later: “It meant something to us,
being part of something like that.”
And it did mean something to Gene. It sparked a lifelong love of
history. When he retired, Rubley worked as a docent at the Abraham
Lincoln Museum, where on so many days, he delighted in showing
visitors the document he helped buy—so many years ago.
Gene’s story—and the generosity of Illinois’ children in 1943—is a
reminder of something important. Our citizens rightfully ask a great
deal of their representatives, but they are always willing to give
so much of themselves in return. That reciprocal investment is the
essence of statesmanship and citizenship. It’s what makes a society
strong. It is what has made Illinois great.
Thank you. God Bless You. God bless the great state of Illinois. And
God bless the United States of America.
[Office of the Governor JB Pritzker] |