Pritzker tells Illinois agencies to find 4% in budget cuts
The article reports that illinois Governor JB Pritzker has ordered state agencies to identify 4% budget cuts amid reduced federal funding to the state. He signed an executive order requiring agencies to submit reduction plans within 30 days, warning that further cuts might be necesary in the next state budget. pritzker attributed the state’s revenue shortfall to federal economic policies under President Donald Trump, including tax cuts that reduce state income and tariffs that harm Illinois farmers. Despite the recent approval of a $55.1 billion state budget, the governor’s directive could freeze up to $2.2 billion of spending as Illinois braces for a potential economic downturn. Republican leaders criticized Pritzker’s order, viewing it as politically motivated.
Pritzker tells Illinois agencies to find 4% in budget cuts, citing Trump’s ‘disastrous economic policies’
Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) told state agencies to find 4% in cuts due to less funding coming to Illinois from the federal government.
Pritzker signed an executive order on Tuesday requiring agencies to outline reductions within 30 days. He said the 4% mark is just the starting figure and that further cuts could be coming in the next state budget.
“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 healthcare and nutritional assistance, but also across the economy with the tariffs that are impacting businesses in Illinois,” Pritzker said. “So we think this is a prudent endeavor.”
Pritzker also cited President Donald Trump’s “disastrous economic policies” as a reason for the state’s expected revenue decline, citing congressional Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Trump signed in July.
The Illinois tax code is based on the federal tax code, so the state will lose revenue because of tax cuts for businesses and wealthy individuals at the federal level.
The governor also pointed to the impact Trump’s tariff policies have had on Illinois farmers, notably his ever-changing tariff rate on China. In July, Pritzker signed another executive order that required seven state agencies to “consider the specific impacts that the U.S. tariffs have had on Illinois and provide draft recommendations of measures to mitigate the impact of these tariffs.”
Illinois lawmakers recently approved a $55.1 billion spending plan for the state, but Pritzker’s order could halt up to $2.2 billion in approved spending as the state anticipates a decline in revenue.
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“It’s a beginning of dealing with what we think could be a very severe challenge for the state budget this year,” Pritzker told reporters. “Remember, we can only identify what we know. Here’s something that I’m very concerned about, which is that the budget is affected vastly by the economic situation of the country, and we’re already seeing that states like Iowa are in recession.”
Illinois Republicans criticized the governor’s executive order, with the Illinois House Minority Leader Tony McCombie calling it “just another attempt to poke the Trump bear.”
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