Pritzker Administration Tells Agencies to Cut Back Budget Requests
Governor JB Pritzker’s administration is telling agencies to roll back their FY26 budget requests amid a projected $3.2 billion budget deficit.
NOTE: This story was originally posted for subscribers only. To receive subscriber-only newsletters and content, click here.
The day after the election, Governor JB Pritzker was asked about his reaction to a report from his own Governor’s Office of Management and Budget (GOMB) that outlined a possible $3 billion budget deficit for the next fiscal year, which begins next July.
Pritzker played it down.
“This is a forecast that’s made every year, looking five years forward assuming no changes in any laws,” he said. “Forget about revenue, it’s just generally no changes in law, no changes in efficiencies. It’s just kind of a flat projection, forecast, and it’s been wrong every year, I guess you might say.”
Even before the fall veto session kicked off, House Speaker Chris Welch also downplayed the projection.
“My record as Speaker the last four years has proven that we've been able to balance the budget, and some of those years we had very grim forecasts just like we do now, and we still manage to produce budgets with surpluses,” Welch said. “So I fully expect the General Assembly that takes office in January will approach the next budget with the same responsible approach of going line by line, laying out priorities, and making smart decisions like we've done in the past. I've really gotten the House in a really good position, and we're just getting better every day. In my conversations with members the last couple of days, many of them were laser focused on the budget, and we're rolling up our sleeves and ready to do the work.”
But, behind the scenes, it appears Democrats are more concerned than either Pritzker or Welch are letting on.
On Thursday, Andy Manar, Pritzker’s Deputy Governor for Budget and Economy, sent a memo to state agency directors to tell them to start preparing for cuts, apparently taking the early November GOMB report into account.
“Since [GOMB] Director [Alexis] Sturm provided agency guidance for the FY26 budget in early October, additional information regarding the outlook for the coming fiscal year has materialized that will impact the crafting of the Governor’s request to the General Assembly,” Manar wrote. “While this shortfall does not reflect the budget submissions provided by your agencies which are currently being reviewed, it does illustrate the magnitude of the challenge that must be addressed as the Governor prepares his FY26 budget submission.”
Manar told agency directors to start reducing their FY26 spending requests.
“As we begin to prepare for many unknowns in the coming year, please begin to work with your Deputy Governors and GOMB staff to review proposed reductions and identify spending that can be reduced further from your submitted FY26 agency budget requests,” Manar wrote.
He did not specify dollar amounts or percentages for reductions.
Manar advises directors to wind down grant programs and discretionary spending and to seek to reduce employee head counts in the upcoming fiscal year.
Numerous House Democrats have privately voiced concerns in recent weeks about spending and whether the caucus will have the appetite to make any cuts or only rely on tax increases.
Pritzker, speaking earlier this month, remained confident.
“The General Assembly and I have balanced the budget every year,” he said November 8. “When I came into office, the projections were that everything was going to go south immediately and we wouldn’t be able to recover from it. We balanced the budget every year. Indeed, we ran surpluses. We’re gonna balance the budget again.”
But fears abound about the political environment and if Democrats will pass a tax increase in 2025 or attempt to make significant cuts.
“This could be a disaster,” one top social service lobbyist said Monday. “We’re just getting over the Rauner years.”
Without offering any details, Pritzker made assurances earlier this month the budget will be balanced.
“I know I’m gonna submit a budget to the General Assembly in February like I have every year over the past six years, and it’ll be balanced,” Pritzker said.
