(The Center Square) – Illinois U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Springfield, and Tammy Duckworth, D-Schaumburg, are expected to vote against a budget resolution put forth by their counterparts in the U.S. House.
“This week, Republicans voted to cut critical programs that help American families, like Medicaid, in order to generate enough money to give a tax break to billionaires,” Durbin posted on X.
The House passed a $4.5 trillion budget resolution Tuesday. The measure included an extension of the 2017 tax cuts enacted during President Donald Trump’s first term in office.
Both Durbin and Duckworth voted against a separate Senate resolution and expressed opposition to budget cuts proposed by the Trump administration. The Senate measure did not include the tax-cut extension, which the president has urged both chambers to pass.
Leaders from both chambers are expected to work in the coming days on reconciling the budget resolutions.
U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Illinois, praised the House measure.
“I just voted to advance a conservative budget blueprint that lays the foundation for passing President Trump’s America First agenda. This plan secures the border, unleashes American-made energy, prevents tax hikes, and cuts reckless government spending. All while implementing $1.5 trillion in mandatory savings and reining in waste. We’re putting hardworking families first!” Bost posted on X.
Illinois U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Schaumburg, opposed the House measure, saying it could put the U.S. at a disadvantage against the Chinese Communist Party.
“The resolution includes $880 billion in cuts to programs that risk stalling the advancement of technologies crucial to our competition with the CCP,” Krishnamoorthi said.
Every House Democrat joined Krishnamoorthi in opposition.
“While we gotta restore our fiscal house, these cuts to critical programs amount to the GOP’s perverted version of DEI: devastating, extreme and irresponsible,” Krishnamoorthi said.
Illinois U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Deerfield, voted against the House resolution and took aim at Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency.
“It’s not that one side or the other side believes we should have an efficient and effective government, everyone in America wants an efficient and effective government. But the way DOGE is approaching it, if they were pruning trees, they’re cutting at the trunks, not at the branches. That makes no sense,” Schneider said.
A poll conducted earlier this month by Napolitan News Service measured Trump’s approval rating at 55%. The survey also found that most Americans support efforts to reduce the size of the federal government.
Thérèse Boudreaux and Dan McCaleb contributed to this report.
