A little more than 12 hours after JB Pritzker stood at Navy Pier to celebrate winning a historic third term as Illinois governor, he walked out before a much smaller but arguably more important audience Wednesday morning in the Columbus Park Refectory in Austin.
Joined by Juliana Stratton, newly elected U.S. senator, and Tammy Duckworth, who will soon be the state’s senior senator, Pritzker stood smiling for a 60-second bow amidst hearty applause that was equal parts joy and respect, and a slight but clear sense of relief at the outcome of elections on the federal level.
“Last night, Americans, including four million Illinoisans, made their voices heard loud and clear,” Pritzker said. “They want their government back.”
For the next hour, Pritzker spoke just as loud and decisively in presenting his “Day One Agenda” for Congress, a 75-page, 200-point plan he said was designed to counter the damage inflicted on the country by the Trump administration. He called it an administration “that’s only shown up in our communities when it’s sent masked agents in unmarked cars to terrorize our neighbors.”
“When Washington makes reckless decisions, the impact doesn’t stay in Washington,” he said.
With Democrats set to assume control in January of both halls of Congress, Pritzker said, “The American people have given them a clear mandate and an urgent responsibility to repair the damage.”
Pritzker touched on an array of issues, including social program cuts, data centers and immigration policy and said that the work “needs to begin immediately.”
“I believe that it’s possible that this President, having received the mandate against his policies, might be willing to talk to Democrats about the agenda that they’re putting forward and be willing to make a compromise,” Pritzker said.
Duckworth, a decorated combat veteran who lost both her legs after piloting a helicopter that was hit by a missile and crashed, brought her blunt military saltiness to the presentation.
“Last night Americans sent a very clear message,” she said. “They are sick of Donald Trump’s bullshit. They are done with him putting his self-interest over his national interest.”
“The reality is, from utility bills to grocery bills, from healthcare to childcare, far too many Americans feel like they’re one bad day, one doctor’s appointment, one stop at the gas pump away from disaster,” she said.
Duckworth said Democrats need to let those Americans know that “we hear them, that we see them and that we are with them.”
Stratton, fresh from her election, was both ebullient and defiant. She noted how the challenges the Trump administration’s policies have wrought are not just being felt in densely populated urban areas, and how different regions and social sectors are inherently connected.
“Our farmers are scrambling for affordable fuel during their busiest season,” she said, “making feeding families more expensive.” Listing off the problems to be addressed, Stratton said, “Elections have consequences. It’s a brand-new day in Illinois, and in America.”
America, Stratton said, is ready to turn the page, “but we aren’t going to wait two years for that change. It starts today.”
Stratton said the Pritzker agenda gives Congress “over 200 policy solutions,” solutions that come, not from the governor’s office, but from officials across the state.
“We’ve listened to the wisdom … of people who administer these federal programs locally,” Stratton said. “They spent months analyzing the most harmful decisions and program changes and their impact on how the state of Illinois serves its people.”
Pritzker again avoided speaking of possible presidential ambitions, declining to offer any timeline. He insisted that his plan was meant to address pressing local and state needs, not set up any further announcement.
Two local leaders well acquainted with the challenges facing Oak Park and Chicago’s West Side gave enthusiastic thumbs up to the presentation, offering their support and welcoming assistance.
Current State Rep. and Congressman-Elect La Shawn K. Ford, who’s in Washington, D.C. for Congressional freshman orientation, said Monday that his 20 years in Springfield have shown him “firsthand what happens when Washington cuts and leaves Illinois to pick up the bill.”
“Our state, our cities, and our hospitals can’t cover the gap left by federal cuts to Medicaid and food assistance,” Ford said. “When the money runs short, seniors, working families, and the safety-net hospitals and clinics in the 7th District pay the price.”
“That’s why Gov. Pritzker’s Day One Agenda matters. It’s a plan to stop pushing federal costs onto the states and put that money back into the things people need,” he said.
Ford vowed to use his position in Congress to assist leaders at all levels in Illinois and to be “a partner to the Governor, the [state] General Assembly and local leaders to make sure federal dollars reach the neighborhoods that need them most.”
Oak Park Village President Vicki Scaman said the presentation touched on concerns familiar to her and many others locally and statewide. As she waited in line to greet Pritzker after the presentation, she offered her thoughts.
Her focus, she said, was the same as his: “Serving the residents that live here now and need help today. I’ve been proud to work with the governor on many things that are about serving Oak Parkers.”
Like Ford, Scaman said federal cuts have transferred responsibility from Washington to thousands of state and local governments.
“We’re seeing municipalities across the state having to struggle with their budgets, this year in particular,” she said. “Oak Park is not alone in that. I’m hearing from many of my colleagues.”
“Every year, the governor has put out a plan that is about broad progress, and those are the same things that are good for the nation,” she said.
Scaman, who attended a question-and-answer session with Duckworth at the Oak Park Democratic headquarters on Election Day morning, celebrated Illinois soon having “two women of color” representing it in the U.S. Senate.
“Tammy Duckworth has been a champion,” Scaman said. “So, it is a day of hope.”