Politics
Illinois Legislative, Labor Leaders Speak Out Against Trump Budget Cuts
Video: The WTTW News Spotlight Politics team on Illinois legislators’ pushback and more of the day’s top stories. (Produced by Emily Soto)
More than a dozen Illinois congressional legislators and labor leaders met in Chicago on Monday morning to push back on President Donald Trump’s widespread funding and staffing cuts they say will force “families to suffer so that billionaires and corporations can benefit.”
“He has stuck a middle finger in the face of the American people,” U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood (14th District) said, “and it’s unacceptable.”
The group met at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago office in the Loop to speak out against possible cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, student aid and other crucial safety net programs.
Officials there said significant budget cuts have threatened students, families and seniors, while freeing up cash for billionaire donors.
Over the weekend, the Trump administration terminated probationary employees with the Food and Drug Administration. Thousands of employees in the Department of Health and Human Services have also been fired, while additional staff cuts have hit the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Justice.
Beyond that, the president has sought to freeze trillions in federal loans and grants that had already been allocated to states.
U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley (5th District) on Monday was highly critical of billionaire Elon Musk — who heads the Department of Government Efficiency that’s spearheading the cuts — and pointed to last month’s termination of 17 inspectors general from various government agencies, saying the move isn’t about saving money, it’s about corruption.
“These agencies are investigating Musk,” Quigley said. “He’s cutting the agencies that would be investigating them. We’re all pretty experienced in the problems of corruption here in Illinois. This is what you’re witnessing with the Trump/Musk administration.”
Trump has also zeroed in on the Department of Education, indicating he would like to dismantle it entirely. Already, at least 39 people were fired from the department last week, according to a union that represents agency workers, including civil rights workers, special education specialists and student aid officials.
Much of the Education Department’s money for K-12 schools goes through large federal programs, such as Title I for low-income schools and the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act. Those programs support services for students with disabilities, lower class sizes with additional teaching positions, and pay for social workers and other non-teaching roles in schools.
“They don’t want to get rid of it to streamline bureaucracy,” Dan Montgomery, president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, said Monday. “They want to get rid of it because of the money it gives to poor kids of every race, to Black and Brown kids especially, marginalized kids, kids in rural settings.”
Montgomery said Illinois is already short about 4,000 teachers, but if federal funding cuts hit that department and limit what it gives out to states, that number could jump to 7,000.
“That means kids walk into classrooms, no teachers,” he said. “What we have here is a tremendous threat to … the bedrock of American democracy, which is our education system.”
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said the cutbacks to these basic services seek only to create tax cuts for the wealthiest people in the country. He pointed to the nearly $1 billion in federal funding Illinois universities and hospitals receive each year for medical research and said he wants not only to see that amount maintained, but increased.
“That,” he said, “I think, is what will make America great again in real terms.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Note: This article was published Feb. 17, 2025, and updated with video Feb. 18, 2025.
