AFSCME members join IL Congresspeople to call out disastrous impacts of federal budget cuts

AFSCME members joined U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-8), Nikki Budzinski (IL-13) and Eric Sorensen (IL-17) in a series of press conferences across the state to shine a spotlight on the devastation that Republicans’ new budget law will bring to Illinois, and to thank those Congresspeople for voting No on it. 

Illinois residents—including children, people with disabilities, students, veterans and seniors—rely on Medicaid funding for health care, mental health treatment, and long-term care, SNAP benefits for food assistance, federal funds and student loans to support higher education, and Medicare and Social Security for dignity in retirement. 

But President Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” makes drastic cuts to these essential programs to pay for massive tax breaks for billionaires instead. 

Click the links below to see a sampling of the media coverage of these events:

• ABC 7: AFSCME workers and retirees sound the alarm on cuts in new federal budget
• Capitol City Now: Budzinski: Even union members are feeling pain from 'One Big Beautiful Bill'
• WGLT: Rep. Sorensen joins AFSCME union members to bash the GOP's tax cut and spending plan

Calling out Medicaid cuts with Rep. Sorensen

Jared Harshman, the president of AFSCME Local 172 at the Jack Mabley Developmental Center, where staff care for people with severe developmental disabilities, said that the cuts to Medicaid will cause serious harm to the center’s residents. 

The law slashes $48 billion in Medicaid funding that Illinois would have otherwise received over the next 10 years. 

“These cuts are going to devastate people everywhere who need a little bit of help just to survive,” Harshman said.

Rep. Sorensen called on the billionaires who are benefitting from these cuts to public services to return the money that they’ll be raking in because of this budget law.

“To the billionaires that are out there, you need to return this money,” Sorensen said. “This is going to be on your conscience.”

Rep. Krishnamoorthi proud to vote No to SNAP cuts

Andy Vikre, a caseworker for the Illinois Department of Human Services and a member of AFSCME Local 2833, helps process applications for food assistance to make sure that kids, families and working and retired people have access to food. 

But because the new law could kick 380,000 Illinoisans off the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), Vikre said he worries about how those people will feed their families.

“We process applications for food assistance to make sure that kids, families, working and retired people have the nutrition they need. I like making a difference in people’s lives,” Vikre said at a press conference with Rep. Krishnamoorthi. “The priorities in Washington right now — cuts to food and medical help for working people, children and seniors, to pay for huge tax giveaways to billionaires — makes me fearful for the future of this country.”

Rep. Krishnamoorthi said he was proud to vote No on this disastrous law.

“This law doesn’t just kick people off their insurance; it kicks them when they’re down,” Rep. Krishnamoorthi said. “” I voted no because health care should be a right, not a bargaining chip for billionaires. I’m proud to stand with AFSCME, a union that never stops fighting for working people and the care they deserve.”

Standing against university cuts with Rep. Budzinski

At the press conference with Rep. Budzinski in Springfield, Amy Bodenstab, the president of AFSCME Local 2887 and an office manager at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, called out aspects of the law that will slash university funding and make it harder for students to pay for college through new restrictions on student loans.

“For students, will they be able to afford their education? Will they have the grants and loans they need to complete their degrees?” Bodenstab asked. “This bill puts that money toward tax giveaways for the very rich.”

Budzinski took a stand against these cuts and stood up for public services when she voted No on the big, ugly budget. 

“These cuts don’t just hurt individuals, they hurt the people who will be left picking up the pieces of this catastrophic law,” Rep. Budzinski said. “I’m here to stand proudly with the members of AFSCME who are doing this work day in and day out for our people.””