SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — Gov. JB Pritzker's budget address for financial year 2026 was liked and disliked along partisan lines.
Democrats stand in applause as Gov. JB Pritzker announces he wants to reduce drug prices in his budget address.
Democrats cheered and applauded the Democrat Governor as he made his budget priorities around reducing healthcare costs and improving education.
State Sen. Doris Turner (D-Springfield) said she is ready to work with the Pritzker administration to expand on some of the Governor's priorities.
"I think that it is a good start," Turner said. "I really want to build on what he talked about education. I believe that education is the foundation in which we build communities and having a strong educational system is very important."
A few Republicans said there were some good ideas with the budget, but called out the governor for "political grandstanding" on his final remarks.
Pritzker ended his speech by criticizing the Trump administration and comparing it to when the Nazis attacked marginalized communities.
"To sit there and basically be called Nazis, not only Trump but the Republican party, it was disgusting," House Minority Leader Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) said.
Many Democrat lawmakers denied that the governor made that comparison.
"I don't believe he compared the Republicans to Nazis at all," State Sen. Elgie R. Sims (D-Chicago) said. "What I think he was doing was saying that when good people fail to stand up, bad things happen."
Pritzker made it clear to every lawmaker in the building, he was not going to accept an unbalanced budget. The governor said he's had to cut funding for some of his favorite programs to balance this year's budget.
He expects the same out of every Democrat lawmaker, which the Senate Democrats say are ready to craft a balanced budget.
"Senate Democrats always have been at the forefront of budget responsibility," Sims said. "We have had the discussions and we have been the leaders of the discussion on being responsible. That's why we look at budgets not just as a one year prospect we look at budgets over multiple years."
In the budget there was new funding to help bring more businesses to Illinois, hoping the state can charm extra jobs and money into the state.
However, the House Minority leader said there is little in the budget that's going to bring new jobs for Illinois citizens.
"Nothing in here is going to benefit Illinois families," McCombie said. "It's not going to help Illinois business. He talked promoting businesses to come, I didn't see anything that was going to lower our corporate tax rate, I didn't see anything that's going to lower our Illinois franchise tax, I didn't see any good policy that is going to do that."
The budget, even though a prediction by the Governors Office of Management and Budget in November expected there to be in a $3.2 billion deficit, has increased spending by 2.5% with a record $55.2 billion spending budget.
Pritzker says to get a balanced budget, lawmakers should look to cut funding and not add new taxes. Some Republicans don't believe the governor will stick to his word.
"The way this has been represented today and the way this has gone in the past, there will be tax increases come this spring," State Rep. Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville) said.
IL Republicans have been asking to cut funding for migrant welfare programs, which Pritzker did by ending the Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults program. Some GOP Lawmakers said they're happy this was cut, but thought there were still more migrant programs that need to be completely removed.
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