Following Friday’s US Senate vote to approve a highly controversial Continuing Resolution to fund the government, multiple officials from Illinois released comments denouncing the resolution.
Earlier in the week after the measure was pushed forward by a Republican majority in the House, Democrat Congresswoman for the 13th District of Illinois Nikki Budzinski explained her Nay vote on the budget resolution by highlighting several of the critical areas where funding was cut for programs which benefit Central Illinois:
Below is a list of some of the specific impacts this Continuing Resolution would have on Illinois’ 13th Congressional District:
- Cuts funding for Community Project Funding approved in the Fiscal Year 2025 Appropriations Process. This includes $67,451,600 for 15 projects in Illinois’ 13th district. These projects include:
- $1,000,000 for Decatur-Macon County Beltway Northeast Connector Design Engineering
- $240,000 for Piatt County Building Improvements
- $1,000,000 for Water Service Lines Replacement in Harristown
- $250,000 for Illinois Terminal Expansion
- $2,000,000 for Integrated Bioprocessing Research Laboratory Expansion
- $250,000 for Urbana Park District Prairie and Weaver Park Site Rehabilitation
- $500,000 for Parkland Way Reconstruction
- $3,000,000 for North Grand Avenue Amtrak/Union Pacific Railroad Underpass
- $450,000 for Juvenile Justice System Specialized Case Management and Wrap Around Services
- $1,250,000 for Brooklyn Community Center
- $1,000,000 for America’s Central Port Wastewater Treatment Plant
- $1,105,800 for Cahokia Heights West Interceptor
- $1,105,800 for Village of Glen Carbon Drinking Water Plant
- $54,000,000 for Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Program
- $200,000 for Gillespie Rural Policing Technology
- Cuts Army Corps of Engineers construction projects that keep commerce safely flowing on our waterways, manage flood risk, and rebuild aging infrastructure by $1.4 billion, or 44 percent. These cuts could jeopardize ongoing construction projects in Madison and St. Clair Counties, including projects that will eliminate combined sewer overflow into the Mississippi River and prevent sanitary sewer back-ups into homes.
- Fails to include $22.8 billion in Fiscal Year 2026 advanced funding for the Toxic Exposures Fund to care for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances that House Republicans included in their own funding bill last year.
- Cuts support for the rural broadband Community Connect program by $30 million, undercutting key investments in Rural America.
- Slashes funding for the National Institutes of Health by $280 million due to reduced funding transferred from the 21st Century Cures Act, further impacting research at the University of Illinois and Southern Illinois University.
- Fails to provide additional funding for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Disaster Relief Fund. This fund provides individuals and businesses with FEMA financial assistance after their homes and properties are damaged by storms, like the July 2024 storm that hit the Metro East.
“Rather than support working people, this bill creates a taxpayer-funded slush fund for President Trump and Elon Musk to use at their discretion, slashing billions in funding for veterans’ toxic exposure claims under the PACT Act, and opening the door to cuts in essential veteran health programs, including those for homelessness, mental health, opioid support, oncology, and caregiver services,” said Congresswoman Budzinski.
“This bill prioritizes billionaires like Elon Musk over our veterans and critical projects in Illinois’ 13th district – projects to reduce sewage overflows in Cahokia Heights, improve public transportation in Champaign, replace hazardous lead service lines in Harristown, and more. The choice is simple – I can’t vote to hand over more unchecked power to President Trump and Musk at the expense of our communities.”
Prior to the Senate’s vote on the CR, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker released the following statement:
“Republicans in Congress have abdicated their responsibility to critically evaluate the damage Donald Trump is doing to critical services the American people need. Democrats have the ability to force bipartisanship and bring the two sides together to make a budget that reflects priorities we all ought to share.
“America was founded on the concept of checks and balances, but Republicans in Congress have decided to bend their knee to Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and their cronies who seek to gut our government from the inside out. It is dangerous.
“Illinoisans know all too well what happens when Republicans are reckless and play politics with people’s livelihood. Veterans will have trouble getting healthcare. Workers will lose jobs when infrastructure projects grind to a halt. Preschools will lose teachers and parents will be left without childcare. Make no mistake: people will suffer the consequences of their negligence.
“Democrats have the power to stop the cessation of power to Donald Trump and Elon Musk and they should use it. I urge a no vote on the Continuing Resolution.”
House Democrats remained in Washington for an additional day to press Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York to vote against the resolution, to no avail: despite several caucuses of the party urging for their Senate counterparts to filibuster for reduced cuts, Schumer and Minority Whip Dick Durbin of IL not only declined to whip their colleagues against the Continuing Resolution, but also voted in favor of it.
Seven other Senate Democrats plus Independent Angus King of Maine voted for the spending resolution without challenge, granting Senate Republicans enough votes to pass the three fifths majority requirement for cloture.
An incensed Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois – who voted Nay for cloture – issued a joint statement together with Andy Kim (D-NJ) condemning Republicans for shooting down an amendment to the CR to protect the jobs of veteran federal employees who were terminated as part of the White House’s indiscriminate firing spree:
“Senate Republicans love to say they support our nation’s Veterans on Fox News, but every single one of them just voted against giving our heroes their jobs back,” said Senators Duckworth and Kim.
Veterans, Sen. Duckworth noted, make up more than 30 percent of the federal workforce; it is estimated that the Trump administration, at the urging of billionaire Elon Musk, have already fired more than 6,000 US military veterans.
“Donald Trump and Elon Musk are firing more Veterans than any Administration in modern history, and now Senate Republicans are on the record supporting their stunningly cruel betrayal of thousands of men and women who served in uniform and chose to continue serving their country in the federal workforce. Shame on Senate Republicans for kicking our heroes to the curb—they own this vote and will have to answer for it.”
