Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson during a news conference in Chicago June 3, 2025 | Chicago Mayor’s Office / Facebook
By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The mayor of Chicago has followed the lead of some Illinois state lawmakers by connecting state and local budget challenges with potential moves by the Trump administration.
Mayor Brandon Johnson spoke with members of the media Tuesday about Illinois’ record-high $55 billion-dollar spending plan passed by the General Assembly over the weekend.
“This budget was austere. There are budgetary challenges all over the country, and we’re faced with that because we do have a great deal of uncertainty, quite frankly, animosity that’s coming from the federal government,” the mayor said.
Johnson called President Donald Trump’s administration “tyrannical.”
State Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, called out Illinois Democrats for blaming the state’s fiscal woes on the president.
“Hang on, I bet Donald Trump called the mayor of Chicago and asked him to tax everybody in Illinois,” Rose said during final budget debates over the weekend.
“This sinister man, orange man bad, made you put the $20 million in for the South Side Organizing Project,” Rose said in another speech on the Illinois Senate floor.
More including video here.