(The Center Square) – Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is among the Democrats taking the lead in criticizing President Donald Trump’s efforts to find and end waste, fraud and abuse in federal spending.
The Trump administration has been taken to court by 22 states, including Illinois, to block it from freezing federal spending programs. Wednesday, Pritzker said in a statement the “cuts” are “catastrophic.”
“I am proud that Illinois and Attorney General Kwame Raoul are leading 22 other states in a suit to hold the Trump Administration accountable for undermining the rule of law,” Pritzker said in a statement. “I am grateful that the courts have already issued a temporary restraining order in response to the suit, recognizing the extraordinary harm to universities and research centers from this unprecedented action.”
Earlier in the week, the governor said Trump has lost several big cases in court in just three weeks being in office.
“That should tell you something about the … unconstitutionality and unlawfulness that he and President [Elon] Musk are carrying out,” Pritzker said.
Alongside Musk in the Oval Office Tuesday, Trump decried the judiciary getting involved in his administration going after waste, fraud, abuse and financial corruption.
“And it seems hard to believe that judges want to try and stop us from looking for corruption especially when we’ve found hundreds of millions of dollars worth, much more than that, in such a short period of time,” Trump said.
Trump said they will appeal actions by judges, but that could take some time, limiting their efforts to find waste, fraud and abuse in federal spending.
Pritzker alleged Trump is taking away funding for poverty, Medicaid, Head Start and Meals on Wheels.
“These are things that affect people we know, people who are in need of a little bit of help and these are programs that Democrats believe in and so we are going to speak up loudly about that,” Pritzker said.
Other Democrats have complained the Trump administration isn’t being transparent about their operations reviewing and freezing federal funding.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back on that.
“I think it’s a real fallacy that there’s this alleged lack of transparency when it comes to [the Department of Government Efficiency],” Leavitt said Wednesday. “President Trump and Elon Musk have been incredibly transparent in what DOGE is doing.”
Trump has been in office since Jan. 20.