SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — The Illinois Freedom Caucus argues Illinois needs to trim the fat of Democratic budgets and are proposing a spending plan of their own.
Gov. JB Pritzker presented a $55 billion budget in February, but the Freedom Caucus told reporters in Springfield Tuesday that lawmakers only need to approve $44 billion.
The Eastern Illinois Republicans said the state should cut funding for free migrant healthcare, “DEI education” in K-12 schools, and social equity projects in Democratic cities.
“We do not have a revenue problem,” said Rep. Jed Davis (R-Yorkville). “We have a priority problem. This money isn’t ours. It’s the people’s money. So it’s time to put it back into their pockets and live by a simple principle, which is spend less and live better.”
Pritzker plans to use $132 million to provide free health benefits to immigrant seniors. However, the governor is ending the state’s free healthcare program for immigrant adults ages 42 to 64.
“I have made difficult decisions, including to programs I have championed, which is hard for me, just as I know some of the difficult decisions you will have to make will be hard for you,” Pritzker noted.
Freedom Caucus members did not give specific answers on how much money they would cut from state agencies.
“There’s a lot of things in our budget,” Davis said. “You go through the last two years, there’s tens of thousands of line items to go through. There are a lot of areas. You don’t need to whack $5 million from one thing. But if you start whittling things down, a lot can add up.”
Davis plans to release his budget proposal for public viewing Wednesday.
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