Illinois House Minority Leader: Pritzker’s budget executive order is way to raise taxes

(WTVO) — Illinois House Minority Leader Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, on Tuesday, said the reason Gov. JB Pritzker (D) issued an executive order directing offices to slash the general fund by 4% has nothing to do with Trump’s policies.

“He wants to blame Trump because to he wants to set up a tax increase,” McCombie told The Center Square.

Pritzker blames Trump for a host of Illinois budget shortfalls and said appropriating 4% of general fund revenue is necessary to combat federal cuts he says are “disastrous” to the state.

“By the policies of the big ugly bill, the policies of his administration, there are hundreds of millions of dollars that are going to have to be made up for as a result of the cuts that he is making,” Pritzker said Tuesday during a press conference in Chicago.

Pritzker says Trump’s reductions in SNAP and other benefits shift costs directly onto Illinois and will leave an estimated 360,000 Illinois families at risk of losing access benefits.

McCombie said SNAP shortfalls could be corrected by correcting what she characterizes as a spending problem.

“His own [SNAP] error rate since 2017 has gone up from 5.73 to 11.56%,” she said. “If he could go back down below that 6%, this is no anticipated cost to the state of Illinois. Do that.”

And then there’s health care. The governor claims cuts to Medicaid and Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage will remove healthcare access for about 330,000 Illinoisans, raise premiums for those insured, and risk hospital closures in rural areas.

“How about, let’s not spend $2.3 billion on health care for illegal immigrants,” McCombie said. “That’s not even touching what we spend on the increase in costs in our schools or for housing or other wrap-around programs they are qualifying for.”

McCombie did not specify areas where Pritzker may raise taxes but said Tuesday’s executive order is a smokescreen for additional levies.

“Whether it’s for transit, whether it’s for more pork projects, or God forbid, the failing energy policies that continue to plague Illinois,” she said.

Pritzker said Trump administration cuts will hit Illinois as early as this year.

“And then, of course, going into FY27,” he said, “there are going to be severe effects upon the state budget and that’s going to be yet another conversation.”