‘AFFORDABILITY AGENDA’: Capitol News Recap | Wednesday, Jan. 21
One year into President Donald Trump’s second term in office, top Illinois Democrats said it’s been a year of broken promises, uncertainty and fear for the future.
“Today marks 365 days of chaos, 365 days of attacks upon civil rights, on the rule of law and on the Constitution itself,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said at a Tuesday news conference in Chicago.
Raoul has joined over 50 lawsuits against the administration’s funding cuts, deployment of National Guard troops and other executive actions.
Gov. JB Pritzker used the day to meet with business leaders, health care workers, moms and a college student in Chicago to hear how Trump’s first year back in office has impacted their lives.
Pritzker held dozens of events and news conferences over the last year to push back on Trump and create a political blueprint for Democrats. The second-term governor, who turned 61 on Monday, emerged in 2025 as one of Trump’s most vocal critics from the Democratic Party.
“The fact that people started paying attention to the things that I was saying was, frankly, a little bit surprising to me, but it was a result I think, of no one else really was saying and being as blunt as I was,” Pritzker told reporters.
The Illinois GOP, meanwhile, said the last year has been “prosperous” for the state because of Trump. The party pointed to 11 events, including a reduction in the national murder rate and decline in egg prices.
Read our story: ‘365 days of chaos’: Illinois Democrats reflect on 1st year of Trump’s 2nd term
Below, we take a look at how lawmakers are approaching the upcoming session. “Affordability” will be the word of the year as lawmakers deal with the uncertainty of impending federal cuts and changes — especially as it pertains to the state’s Medicaid program.
Session preview
Illinois lawmakers’ 2026 theme: affordability
“We’re going to focus on things that help folks in their household budget,” House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch told Capitol News Illinois. “We’re going to focus on things that help create good jobs, wage growth and opportunity. We’re going to help our small businesses continue to grow and succeed.”
“Affordability” will be the word of the year, and Welch said members of his House Democratic caucus will be making decisions about their priorities through that lens.
Medicaid funding
Illinois Medicaid program faces looming funding crisis due to federal changes
A multibillion-dollar budget crisis will hit the state’s Medicaid program in the next few years unless state lawmakers and Gov. JB Pritzker act to prevent it, budget analysts both inside and outside state government warn.
The crisis comes from changes in federal Medicaid policy that were enacted last year as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic policy agenda, known officially as H.R. 1, or the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which, among many other things, slashes one of the main funding tools many states have used for four decades to fund their share of the cost of Medicaid.
Capitol News Illinois reporters in the news
- Ben Szalinski discusses our story on Pritzker’s media strategy on the 21st Show in Springfield.
- Jerry Nowicki discusses Illinois’ top political stories of 2025 on WVIK in the Quad Cities
- Brenden Moore talked to Patrick Pfingsten in Springfield about what to expect for the upcoming legislative session.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.
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