Illinois Democrats vow to push back on Trump administration cuts to programs, staff

By Sean Lewis

Members of Illinois’ Democratic delegation in Congress gathered Monday to rail against Trump administration cuts to the federal government at the direction of billionaire Elon Musk.

The most recent cuts — hundreds of employees at the Federal Aviation Administration terminated — made headlines shortly before the delegation’s press conference at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, an organization that receives 84% of its $41 million budget from federal funds.

Since Donald Trump’s inauguration, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has fired thousands of federal workers and either slashed or halted funding for a number of programs.

“What is the plan? Why are they doing all this? If it’s to create a fund to give tax breaks to the wealthiest people in the United States, say it. At least let us know what you’re doing here,” said Sen. Dick Durbin.

The lawmakers say cuts to social safety programs including Medicaid, housing assistance and food safety, are directly related to the $4.5 trillion the administration wants to give in the form of tax breaks to corporations at the expense of lower-income and middle class Americans.

“We are now sitting here today because the Republican Party is saying, ‘I need to give a $4.5 trillion tax cut to the wealthiest among us, and because I’ve made that decision I need to figure out how to cut services to our seniors, to our veterans, cut our air traffic controllers, cut funding for research,’ — do all these things that’s like a Bizarro version of Sermon on the Mound,” said Rep. Sean Casten (D-Illinois).

While challenges to funding cuts make their way through the courts, their impact is being felt in Chicago and across the country, from school districts to non-profits that provide health care and other services.

“These services are critical for every day citizens,” said Erica Bland with SEIU Healthcare. “Illinois nursing homes are funded 70% with Medicaid. Illinois safety net hospitals, which provide care for the most vulnerable, are funded 50% by Medicaid. And 42% of births in the United States are funded by Medicaid.”

Dan Montgomery, president and chief operating officer of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, said his mother’s recent could could have been impacted by cuts.

“In her old age, she lived almost entirely on Social Security. She didn’t have a lot of money when she died at home with dignity, in her house in her bed,” he said. “It was with hospice paid for by Medicare. That situation is repeated by millions of people in this country. That’s what’s at risk.”

Casten, among those who have pointed to the moves made so far as priorities of Project 2025, which was dismissed by Trump during his campaign, also claimed that the president would not have won election had he and Republicans “been honest with the American people about what they wanted to do.” Casten said it’s important for Democrats to continue to talk about the administration’s “unpopular ideas” and “drive down Trump’s popularity.”

“Let’s get this done,” he said. “We are in a constitutional crisis.”