Later this week, the General Assembly is expected to pass a new state budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
Most Illinoisans won’t even know it’s happening. It will likely be done late at night, without real discussion, transparency or input from the very people who will be forced to pay for it.
The Democratic majority is talking about new tax hikes, more spending and more empty promises. And once again, these lawmakers are doing it behind closed doors.
As a freshman lawmaker, this is my first session in the Illinois House. And I can tell you that this isn’t how things are supposed to work.
Before serving in public office, I was a small-business owner and a nonprofit leader. I’ve worked with budgets, made tough calls and felt the pressure that comes when needs grow and resources shrink. In the real world, when money runs out, you prioritize. You stretch. You reform.
But not in Springfield.
Since just before Gov. JB Pritzker took office in 2019, state spending has increased by more than $16 billion. This year’s budget is projected to hit $55 billion, nearly $2 billion more than last year.
Pritzker and legislative Democrats celebrate this explosion in spending, suggesting that attempts at reform are extreme. And now, as the Tribune Editorial Board recently warned, they are considering new tax hikes.
Let’s be clear: There’s nothing compassionate about taking more from families who already have to get by with less, as persistent inflation drives up the price of everything. Compassion isn’t measured by how much we spend; it’s measured by whether people are actually better off.
Take Medicaid as just one example. Enrollment has more than doubled in Illinois since 2000, fueled by COVID-19-era policies and emergency federal funds. That emergency is long over, but the spending continues. Worse, this expansion is celebrated. Medicaid was designed to be a safety net for the most vulnerable, not a permanent crutch for a system that refuses to reform. Yet any effort to restore balance is met with political spin and fearmongering.
Instead of addressing waste and fraud and providing adults with a path to productive and independent lives through meaningful work, the Pritzker administration attacks these reform efforts. Taxpayers are left holding the bag, and those truly in need are no better off.
I’ve seen what real help looks like. Through my work with the Northeast Community Fund and a food bank in Decatur, I’ve stood alongside families in crisis. I’ve seen the power of community, the power of dignity and the power of hope. I know what it takes to help people rebuild their lives.
But that’s not what’s happening in Springfield.
There, the goal is growing government, not growing opportunity. More dependency. More bureaucracy. More power for those in charge. And, heartbreakingly, less hope for the people they claim to serve.
When we talk about Medicaid and this budget, we should be asking the hard but fundamental questions: Why are so many families forced to rely on what was a last-resort safety net? Why have Pritzker and the majority destroyed opportunity, driven out good careers, failed to educate our kids and forced so many families to rely on broken government programs, instead of helping them build lives of independence and prosperity?
We should be lifting people out of poverty, not locking them in it.
We should be creating jobs and driving growth, not exploding Medicaid rolls and taxing working families to fund it.
We should be empowering people, not expanding bureaucracy.
There are better paths forward. We need a budget that is truly balanced, offers property tax relief and includes no tax hikes. We need to reform the major drivers of government spending, restore honest budgeting and transparency, audit every program for its impact and efficiency, and refocus taxpayer dollars on results, not rhetoric.
This debate isn’t just about one budget line or one vote. It’s about the kind of state Illinois has become and whether we still have time to change course.
I believe we do. And we must because this is about whether my three kids and an entire generation of families will be able to build the lives of their dreams right here at home.
We need to stop pretending that unlimited spending is a sign of compassion. It’s not. It’s a sign of failed leadership.
Illinois doesn’t need a bigger government. It needs a better one.
State Rep. Regan Deering, R-Decatur, represents Illinois’ 88th District.
