JOLIET, Ill. (WGN) — Bracing for the economic fallout of President Donald Trump’s policies, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed an executive order asking departments to tighten their belt.
Republicans said the act is long overdue.
Facing a tighter federal budget and the prospect of a weaker U.S. economy, Pritzker ordered state agencies on Tuesday to identify 4 percent cuts.
“Donald Trump and the Big Ugly Bill have been literally weighing on states all across the United States. You talk to every state in the country, and they will tell you that they are having to make cuts to their state budgets to deal with what the federal government has done to them,” Pritzker said.
The current fiscal year budget, which included new taxes and one-time revenues, passed back in May and took effect on July 1. At the time, Democrats admitted the plan required tough choices. But now, even deeper scrutiny, as Pritzker wants agencies to review their spending in the next 30 days and cut non-essential hiring, purchases, and travel.
“There are hundreds of millions of dollars that are going to have to be made up for as a result of the cuts the federal government is making, including in health care and nutritional assistance, but also across the economy with the tariffs that are impacting businesses in Illinois,” the governor said.
The Senate Republican Leader, John Curran, notes that state spending has increased 40 percent since Pritzker took office.
In a statement, Curran said, “If he is serious about protecting Illinois’ fiscal solvency, he will start by making the difficult, and sometimes unpopular decisions needed to constrain state spending, reduce taxes, and improve economic opportunity for all Illinoisans, regardless of who is president.”
Pritzker said he wants to act now before the state falls into a recession.
“We’re doing okay in Illinois right now, but I can’t believe that when we see lots of other states that are severely negatively impacted by the president’s policies and the economies of their states are affected, that they’re not also going to see a deterioration of revenues,” Pritzker said. “So we don’t know what’s going to happen for Illinois.”
Amid the campaign season, the issue remains a hot topic of discussion. Former State Senator Darren Bailey, who is launching another run for Illinois governor later this week, released a statement slamming Pritzker for growing state spending.
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