SPRINGFIELD — Following Illinois’ passage of a $55.9 billion fiscal year 2027 budget, Gov. JB Pritzker touted affordability measures within it while criticizing President Donald Trump and his administration.
Pritzker also expressed a continued desire to work with the Chicago Bears and create legislation to incentivize the team to remain in the Prairie State.
“We’re working to survive a president of the United States that is attacking the people of Illinois and the people of the United States, particularly working families,” Pritzker said at a news conference on June 1, following the legislature’s night that wrapped up the spring session around 4:00 a.m.
“Literally billions of dollars have been taken away from people in our state. We’ve seen these massive tariffs that are affecting people at the grocery store, when they’re going to buy a car — everything else in their lives. Costs are going up, and then we’ve got this war that’s raised the cost of gasoline for everybody,” Pritzker added.
The need for affordability has been a talking point on both sides of the aisle for the entirety of the spring session. Pritzker said June 1 that the legislature and his administration are trying to defend the working families of Illinois, and the most vulnerable.
“That is what we’re spending literally 98% of our time focused on and what we’ve been doing over the last six months — and I realize that everybody wants to talk about things that are ancillary to that. To us, I really, want businesses to stay here and grow. I really want businesses to be attracted to the state of Illinois, and I’ve been working at that every single day,” Pritzker said.
Included in the budget are several items that Pritzker highlighted as “making everyday costs more affordable,” such as a suspension of an increase in the gas tax, a lull in state sales tax for a time on school supplies, and money for food assistance programs.
What’s next for the Chicago Bears?
Much of the news conference was spent talking about the Chicago Bears.
Pritzker defended lawmakers, saying they did everything they could to keep “one of those businesses here,” likely referring to the Chicago Bears. Still, he added that the most important things happening now are what’s happening to “average, everyday families.”
The Illinois Senate tried to pass legislation that would incentivize the football team to build a new stadium in Illinois but was unsuccessful. The spring session is over, but lawmakers could still pass a bill before the next regular session.
Pritzker’s staff was involved in developing an 11th-hour stadium pitch, sponsored by state Sen. Bill Cunningham, D-Chicago after the megaproject property tax-incentive proposal fell through, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
“I have not seen the completed senate bill, or read it, I have to say. Nor has my staff, because as the speaker said (Speaker of the House Chris Welch), it came late, and that’s okay, things happen,” Pritzker said Monday. “We had a whole lot of things that were foisted upon the state that we were dealing with yesterday, but indeed the speaker is going to work hard to make sure the house is making progress. I will certainly stand alongside them in any way that I can assist in that endeavor. And our hope is that we will be able to provide something for the Bears that will work.”
Pritzker at the news conference also reaffirmed that he was not interested in funding billions of dollars of taxpayer money for the team.
“The reality is that I wasn’t willing to give up billions of dollars of taxpayer money in order to give it to a billionaire-owned family, or team, and believe very much that the incentives that we provide for businesses are to be similar to the incentives we provide to this type of business,” Pritzker said.
Tom Ackerman covers breaking news and trending news along with general news for the Springfield State Journal-Register. He can be reached at tackerman@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Pritzker touts affordability in budget, talks future for Bears bill
Reporting by Tom Ackerman, Springfield State Journal-Register / State Journal-Register
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