Illinois Dems blast ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ that barely cleared House, warn of harsh cuts
Illinois politicians respond to passing of Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill'
President Trump got his megabill which passed through the house today by the thinest of margins, but not without strong vocal opposition from Democrats including right in Chicago.
ILLINOIS - Illinois lawmakers are criticizing a sweeping Republican-backed spending bill that narrowly passed the House Thursday afternoon in a 218-214 vote.
What we know:
Dubbed the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," the 940-page measure includes deep cuts to Medicaid, food assistance and other safety-net programs in order to pay for an extension of Trump-era tax breaks.
The legislation would preserve more than $4.5 trillion in tax cuts originally passed in 2017, while introducing new ones. It also allocates $350 billion for national security and immigration enforcement.
Illinois Lawmakers React :
Gov. JB Pritzker responded on social media following the bill’s passage.
"Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans just passed historic cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and so much more. We're going to have to pull together to overcome these challenges. I promise you that I'll do everything in my power to help protect you," Gov. Pritzker said.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth also condemned the measure.
"Republicans in Congress had a choice: Vote to protect the people they serve or vote to please Donald Trump. When millions lose their health care, SNAP benefits, local hospitals and nursing homes—this moment will be remembered. And the American people will know who to blame."
But Illinois Rep. Darin LaHood praised the bill as a win for fiscal conservatives.
"This afternoon, @HouseGOP kept their promises to the American people. The One Big Beautiful Bill will head to @POTUS' desk to be signed into law! We voted to give Americans predictability and certainty while delivering much-needed economic relief."
Before Thursday’s final vote, lawmakers worked to reconcile differences between House and Senate versions of the bill. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also delivered a record-setting speech that delayed the process.
Rep. Robin Kelly issued this statement on the bill's passage.
"House Republicans did the unconscionable: they passed the Big, Ugly Bill that would steal people’s healthcare, rob food out of children’s mouths, cut clean energy jobs, and flood our streets with dangerous weapons like gun silencers. After one call from President Trump, so-called hardline conservatives folded like cowards, voting to raise the deficit by $3.4 trillion. While House Republicans bent the knee to President Trump, every House Democrat stood up for the American people to vote no in one resounding voice.
"If people do not have healthcare, they will die. That’s not hyperbolic – that’s fact. The Big, Ugly Bill rips healthcare away from 17 million people and closes hospitals, all the while exacerbating public health crises like maternal mortality and gun violence. President Trump promised not to touch Medicaid – but he lied, and House Republicans were complicit in his scam. Shame on House Republicans, and shame on President Trump for betraying the American people."
Rep. Brad Schneider slammed the measure.
"218 Republicans just voted to mortgage our children’s future to make President Trump, his family, and his billionaire cronies richer.
"They are now responsible for the single largest cut to healthcare in American history. They own the largest cut to anti-hunger programs in our nation’s history. They slashed clean energy investments, likely leading to the loss of hundreds of thousands of good, well-paying jobs. And they enthusiastically piled on more than $4 trillion to our nation’s debt over the next decade — the largest legislated increase in our debt in history.
"Maybe worst of all, knowing full well the negative impact this legislation will have on America’s working families, Republicans clapped for themselves, proud that they were selling out the American Dream to give billionaires costly, unnecessary tax breaks.
"I joined every House Democrat to oppose this abomination of a bill. Americans deserve investment in their futures -- solutions that bring down the cost of groceries and make raising a family more affordable. Instead, under President Trump’s leadership, Because of this bill passed today by 218 Republicans, future generations of Americans will be worse off, condemned to living in a less healthy, less safe, and poorer America."
Congresswoman Delia Ramirez also condemned the bill's passage.
"Americans are today condemned by Republicans to a future of poverty, scarcity, sickness, and toxicity. As Republicans go back to their districts to celebrate "freedom and liberty" with their families and donors, working families are left, once again, wondering who is free and who has been liberated. Because it is clear that those liberated by the Big Nasty Bill do not include 17 million people, including the 535,849 in Illinois, who will lose their health care. It is not the 5 million veterans, seniors, and single parents who will lose food assistance or the 10 million children at risk of losing school breakfast and lunch. It is not the families who will see an increase of $400 per year in their electric bills. It is not the students who will see their dreams of affordable, quality education stolen from them. It is not those whose rights will be violated by an expanded anti-immigrant operation.
"Republicans have used their power and their votes to free Trump and Noem from their obligation to respect the Constitution by infusing over $150 BILLION into their fascist mass deportation campaign that will terrorize our neighbors while enriching the private prison campaign donors. They have liberated their billionaire donors from paying their fair share in taxes, delivering a permanent trillion-dollar tax break for the top 1% while making tax breaks for working people temporary.
"As disappointed as we are by the lack of Republican moral clarity and courage, their efforts only make clearer what's at stake in the fight for our collective freedom and liberation. Generations before us have fought imperialism, monopolies, oligarchies, unchecked capitalism, and wanna be kings—and they have won. And, while it may seem bleak today, we will continue to fight for policies that make the billionaires pay their fair share, get their hands off of our bodies, our rights, our neighbors, and out of our pockets, and prioritize ALL working families' healthy, thriving, prosperous futures. Because when we fight, when we choose radical, inclusive love, when our people-powered, intersectional, multiracial movement organizes, we win — we are not giving up."
What's next:
President Trump is expected to sign the bill into law, possibly on July 4.
RELATED: 'Big beautiful bill' passes final vote in House; moves to Trump