Former Transportation Secretary urges state taxpayer funding for Chicago
transit
[August 26, 2025]
By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – A former U.S. transportation secretary says
Downstate Illinois residents should help fund Chicago transit, but a
Metro East lawmaker disagrees.
The Illinois General Assembly is expected to address a regional transit
fiscal cliff of at least $760 million during the fall veto session
scheduled in October.
Former Illinois Congressman and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray
LaHood said lawmakers have to find a way to fund the Chicago Transit
Authority.
“So many people rely on the CTA to get to their doctor’s appointments,
to the grocery store, to work,” LaHood told The Center Square.
LaHood, who was in former President Barack Obama's cabinent, spoke at
the launch of the Fair Maps Illinois initiative in Chicago last week.
“It’s incumbent upon those responsible for funding it to find the money
to fund it, and not just by increasing fares,” LaHood added.
When asked why residents outside of the Chicago area should be asked to
help fund Chicago transit, LaHood said many Downstate Illinois residents
visit the city.
“We come here. We take advantage of the public transportation system.
Chicago is very important to Illinois. It’s an economic engine for
Illinois, and it’s a part of Illinois,” LaHood said.
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State Sen. Erica Harriss, R-Glen Carbon, said the Illinois
constitution states that public transportation is an essential
public purpose, but she voted against the proposed $1.50 retail
delivery tax to fund mass transit.
“While I support public transportation, I do not think that
Downstate should be on the hook financially to bail out the failures
within the Chicago public transit system,” Harriss told The Center
Square.
State Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, said earlier this month that
any funding plan would have to invest $1.5 billion and keep at least
$200 million for downstate transit.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker was asked about transit funding at an event in
South Holland last week.
“There’s still a lot of work being done on it. Lots of it has come
together already, but it’s not soup yet is the way I would say it,”
Pritzker said.
State Sen. Don DeWitte, R-St. Charles, said a transit working group
of House Democrats shared with him the possibility of some
alternative revenue scenarios.
“It sounds like they’re taking a much more moderate approach,
although there will still be, it sounds like, some surcharges or tax
increases within the makeup of that bill,” DeWitte told The Center
Square.
DeWitte said the transit fiscal cliff is $770 million. He said
Senate Republicans are getting ready to propose their own piece of
legislation. |
