TAXES
What Democrats and the Media Are Saying
Governor JB Pritzker: “Trump and his extreme MAGA allies are making the richest people richer with a massive and unneeded tax break while making life more expensive for hardworking families.”
IL Dem Chair Lisa Hernandez: “Representatives Bost, Miller, and LaHood just passed Trump’s disastrous billionaire-first tax and spend bill that takes a wrecking ball to Illinois families’ livelihoods…all to make Trump’s tax scam permanent and fund another round of tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy on the backs of Illinoisans…and funnel thousands into the pockets of the wealthiest Americans.”
USA Today: “Low-income families would lose, wealthier ones would gain under GOP tax proposals”
New York Times: “Poorest Americans Dealt Biggest Blow Under Senate Republican Tax Package”
Associated Press: “GOP tax bill would cost poor Americans $1,600 a year and boost highest earners by $12,000, CBO says”
The Facts – What’s Actually In the Big Beautiful Bill
Standard Deduction: If Congress had done nothing, after 2025 the standard deduction would have been cut nearly in half (from $15,000 to $8,350 for a single filer). The bill further boosted the standard deduction (to $15,750 for a single filer) and indexed the bottom two brackets (people making $50k/yr or less) to inflation.
Tax Rates: If Congress had done nothing, after 2025 tax rates would have gone up for an estimated 62% of filers (3%-4% for those making $12k-$200k | 2.6% for those making over $650k). Now the lower tax rates are permanent.
Child Credit: If Congress had done nothing, after 2025 the child tax credit would have been cut in half (from $2,000 to $1,000) and the other dependent credit ($500) would have been eliminated. The bill further boosted the child tax credit to $2,200 and indexed it to inflation.
Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT): If Congress had done nothing, after 2025 the AMT exemption would have been lowered from $90,400 to $70,900.
Estate Tax: If Congress had done nothing, after 2025 the estate tax exemption would have been slashed in half ($14 million to $7 million for individuals). Now the exemption is $15 million and indexed to inflation.
In addition:
- $1,000 savings accounts for kids born between 2024-2028.
- No tax on tips up to $25,000 and overtime up to $12,500 through 2028, phasing out at incomes above $150,000.
- Additional senior tax deduction of up to $6,000, through 2028.
- Deduction for auto loan interest up to $10,000 for US cars through 2028, phasing out at incomes above $100,000.
- Expansion of the low-income housing tax credit (13-14%) for developers of low income and affordable housing.
- Increases to deduction for dependent care assistance programs (i.e. daycare), the Enhanced Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) which phases down for higher incomes, and the Employer-Provided Child Care Credit (45F).
- The state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap is increased to $40,000 and upped annually for people making less than $500,000 annually, through 2029.
How the GOP Should Message
Democrats and the media are lying. They’re twisting numbers to fit their narrative, but their lies are easily exposed by simply looking at the bill.
Without this bill, taxes would have gone up significantly for working families. By boosting the standard deduction and child tax credit, lowering tax rates, eliminating tax on tips and overtime, and adding a new senior tax deduction, Republicans have delivered tax relief specifically for low- and middle-income taxpayers. Every Democrat voted against lowering taxes for working families.
BUSINESS & JOBS
What Democrats and the Media Are Saying
IL Dem Chair Lisa Hernandez: “Representatives Bost, Miller, and LaHood just passed Trump’s disastrous billionaire-first tax and spend bill that…could drag Illinois’ economy into the gutter.
- Costs the Illinois economy $6.682 BILLION in GDP
- Kill 49.9 THOUSAND jobs
- Plummet Illinois tax revenue by $640 MILLION
- Unions are warning this is the ‘biggest job-killing bill in the history of the country’
- If this bill is signed into law, it will threaten 1.2 million jobs nationwide, 1.75 million construction jobs and 2 million clean energy jobs”
Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition Statement: “In Illinois, the budget reconciliation bill will:
- Result in the loss of between 30,000 and 56,000 jobs by 2030.
- Result in the loss of over $16.8 billion worth of investments from public and private sources, putting 105 facilities at risk of closure across the state.”
The Facts – What’s Actually In the Big Beautiful Bill
Corporate Tax Rate: If Congress had done nothing, after 2025 the corporate tax rate would have increased from 21% to 35%. Now the lower rate is permanent.
Small Business Pass-Through Deduction: If Congress had done nothing, after 2025 the 20% pass through income deduction would have been eliminated, a massive tax increase on 26 million small businesses. Now it is permanent.
In addition:
- Re-instatement of deductions for businesses Biden had let expire, including up-front depreciation, a new accounting standard for interest deductibility, and expensing for research and development (R&D) costs for domestic R&D done by businesses doing $31 million or less in business.
- New factory construction credit, semiconductor manufacturing credit, opportunity zone credit, and carbon sequestration credit, among others.
- Employer paid family leave credit (Section 455) now permanent.
- Expanded 529 plans to allow tax-exempt distributions towards elementary/secondary education and post-secondary credentialing.
- Business deduction for payments towards employees’ student loans up to $5,250 annually now permanent and indexed to inflation.
- Increases agriculture support by nearly $57 billion over the next decade, most of that tied to enhancements in the farm safety net.
How the GOP Should Message
This bill is a huge win for small businesses, manufacturers, farmers, and workers in Illinois. Without it, every small business would have seen a massive tax increase of 20% to as much as 38%, devastating family-run businesses, killing jobs, and destroying local economies.
Republicans did even more to support small businesses and workers, including credits to support domestic manufacturing as well as paid family leave, education opportunities, and student loan repayment assistance for workers. Democrats voted against all these benefits for small businesses and workers.
DEFICIT
What Democrats and the Media Are Saying
Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski: “According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the law will increase the national deficit by more than $3 trillion over the next decade.”
The Facts – What’s Actually In the Big Beautiful Bill
The Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation scored the bill as cutting deficits by $500 billion over 10 years without the cost of the 2017 tax cut extensions in the bill. With those cuts included in the accounting, the cost is $3.3 trillion. Revenues from tariffs are expected to offset a significant portion of the cost at about $2.5 trillion.
Congressman Darin LaHood (WGLT): “The Congressional Budget Office that scores this bill, they predict there will be 1.8% growth over the next 10 years. I don’t buy into that figure. We’ve never had that low of growth. We’ve always had somewhere between 2-3% growth.”
Neither party is as focused on the deficit as they should be. Biden increased the deficit by $8.5 trillion. Trump increased it by $7.5 trillion his first term.
How the GOP Should Message
The bill does begin to make reductions in federal spending, but clearly much more needs to be done. Both parties need to start taking the deficit more seriously.
EDUCATION
What Democrats and the Media Are Saying
Governor JB Pritzker: “The federal spending bill defunds programs that support working families with school-age children by…creating a new tax credit refund that benefits private school donors who pay for tuition vouchers, potentially reducing state and federal funding for public schools that experience a decline in student enrollment. …This federal spending bill aims to threaten college affordability for working-class students across Illinois by reducing annual limits for graduate and parent loans.”
IL Dem Chair Lisa Hernandez: “154,965 students in Illinois could have their Pell grants cut or eliminated entirely.”
Chalkbeat: “When you take it all together it’s kind of like an assault on children and families…schools are going to be on the front lines.”
The Facts – What’s Actually In the Big Beautiful Bill
Pell Grants were expanded, with a new “Workforce Pell” that will help students afford short-term, career-oriented workforce programs at accredited institutions beginning July 2026.
Eligibility provisions were added for traditional Pell Grants to focus funding on lower-income students:
- High Student Aid Index Ineligibility: Students with a student aid index equal to or greater than twice the maximum Pell Grant amount would become ineligible.
- Grant Aid Offset: Students who receive non-federal grants from states, institutions, or private sources covering the full cost of attendance would be ineligible for a Federal Pell Grant during that award period.
- Expanded Definition of Income: Foreign income will be added to adjusted gross income calculations for Pell Grant eligibility.
A new private school tax credit for the first $1,700 donors give to groups that provide private school tuition vouchers. Governors decide whether to opt their states into the program and which scholarship groups can participate.
How the GOP Should Message
Democrats and the media are lying about the bill’s impact to education. The truth is Pell Grants were expanded, creating opportunities for low-income students to pursue career and technical training, while adding commonsense eligibility provisions that ensure these funds support working families instead of being lost to fraud and abuse. And the new national school choice program gives states the option to decide if it’s right for them while making no reductions to public school funding.
Republicans voted to expand education options for low-income families while every Democrat voted no.
HEALTHCARE (MEDICAID)
What Democrats and the Media Are Saying
Governor JB Pritzker: “Congressional Republicans are forcing through the largest cuts to Medicaid in our nation’s history. Blood will be on the hands of Donald Trump and his cronies…”
“Premiums will Increase 75% for Working Families with ACA Marketplace Coverage”
“The bill would put the coverage and benefits for all 3.4 million Illinoisans on Medicaid at risk.”
“The bill imposes frequent and administratively burdensome eligibility checks and new work requirements. “Illinois’ most vulnerable eligible families will face an uphill battle to successfully navigate the system’s new red tape…”
Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski: “It is expected to cut 17 million Americans off their healthcare plans.”
IL Dem Chair Lisa Hernandez: “535,849 people across Illinois will lose health insurance.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries: “It guts Medicaid in a way that it’s going to hurt children, hurt families, hurt seniors, hurt people with disabilities, hurt women, hurt everyday Americans.”
The Hill: “The impacts on health coverage are likely to be immense. Roughly 40 percent of U.S. births are paid for by Medicaid.”
The Hill: “Health experts and advocates warn a blizzard of red tape and administrative hurdles will strip people of needed health care, even those who would normally be eligible. “
The Facts – What’s Actually In the Big Beautiful Bill
Able-bodied adults under the age of 65 and with no children under the age of 15 would be required to work, volunteer, or go to school 20 hours a week, starting in December of 2026 (with 2 additional years of compliance waivers). Disabled people, pregnant women, and people in prison or rehabilitation centers are exempt. Certification occurs every six months.
Pregnant women and parents of children under 15 are still covered, so the ~40% of US births paid for by Medicaid would still be paid for by Medicaid.
Individuals with incomes above the poverty line would have to pay out-of-pocket co-pays up to $35 per service, with the annual total capped at 5% of a person’s income. Primary care, mental health care, and substance abuse services are exempted, and prescription drugs would only have a nominal co-pay.
Closes a loophole used by Illinois since 2019 to levy taxes on health care providers to meet their share of the Medicaid cost and use those funds to get additional federal matching dollars over other states.
ObamaCare eligibility eliminated for people who are not US citizens and residents. Verification will occur in real time and must occur before an individual can receive subsidies. Automatic enrollment is ended in 2028, enrollees must prove their eligibility each year.
How the GOP Should Message
A significant majority of Americans agree that able-bodied adults with no children should work, train, or volunteer at least part time to receive taxpayer-funded healthcare. This bill will help the 62% of able-bodied adults on Medicaid who do not work to move from welfare to work. This is not a new idea—Bill Clinton imposed 30-hour-per-week requirements in 1996, and Illinois imposes similar requirements for unemployment benefits.
This will help ensure we crack down on the waste and fraud in Medicaid, which has reached an astonishing 20%. We must resolve this so we can protect resources for the truly needy.
RURAL IMPACT
What Democrats and the Media Are Saying
Governor JB Pritzker: “Donald Trump isn’t just cutting health care — he’s also closing hospitals in Illinois and across the country with his latest scheme. Hard-working Illinoisans will spend more time in overcrowded waiting rooms and lose access to life-saving care.”
IL Dem Chair Lisa Hernandez: “9 Illinois hospitals are at risk of closing — ripping away access to critical emergency medical care for millions of Americans.”
DCCC: “Republicans are ripping away health care for millions and cutting funding for hospitals, all to pay for massive tax breaks for their billionaire donors.”
The Hill: “According to estimates from the National Rural Health Association, rural hospitals will lose $70 billion over the next 10 years as a result of the law, losing 21 cents from every Medicaid dollar they receive.”
The Facts – What’s Actually In the Big Beautiful Bill
$50 billion in grants to states between fiscal years 2026 and 2030 for Rural Health Funding.
How the GOP Should Message
Democrats and the media are scaring rural communities by claiming their hospitals will close, when the truth is the bill created a $50 billion fund specifically to ensure rural communities continue to have access to the healthcare they need. Every Democrat voted against the creation of this important, life-saving fund.
FOOD ASSISTANCE (SNAP)
What Democrats and the Media Are Saying
Governor JB Pritzker on the Republican Budget Bill: “…Republicans just voted to pass the largest slashes to your health care and kids’ nutrition assistance in our nation’s history. They’re gambling with your lives to pay for tax cuts for their wealthiest friends.”
“…draconian cuts and alterations to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which threatens food benefits for an estimated 360,000 Illinoisans, jeopardizes jobs, grocery stores, and harms local economies.”
IL Dem Chair Lisa Hernandez: “205,000 Illinoisans are at risk of losing food assistance, forcing working families and children to go hungry.”
Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski: “It is expected to eliminate or reduce food assistance for more than 3 million individuals, including seniors and veterans.”
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: “The deepest cuts to SNAP would come from cutting federal funding for basic food benefits by between 5 and 25 percent and then telling states to backfill for the federal cut.”
The Facts – What’s Actually In the Big Beautiful Bill
Because the federal government covers 100% of the cost of SNAP, states have no incentive to verify recipient eligibility or accurately determine benefit amounts. States like Illinois take advantage of this loophole, with an 11.56% error rate, among the worst in the nation.
Beginning in 2028, the bill imposes cost sharing for SNAP benefits for states that fail to reduce their error rate:
- Below 6% Error Rate: 0% Cost Share
- 6%-8% Error Rate: 5% Cost Share
- 8%-10% Error Rate: 10% Cost Share
- Above 10% Error Rate: 15% Cost Share
How the GOP Should Message
The only reason Illinois taxpayers may be on the hook for paying SNAP benefits is because of JB Pritzker’s administrative failures. He’d rather play politics than simply direct his administration to improve on its abysmal SNAP error rate, which is among the worst in the nation. This failure by Pritzker will cost Illinoisans over $700 million per year.
IMMIGRATION
What Democrats and the Media Are Saying
Washington Post: “Democrats…have been more muted about the potential harms of the immigration provisions, a sign that the party continues to struggle to find a coherent message on the issue after Trump’s resounding election victory last fall.”
The Facts – What’s Actually In the Big Beautiful Bill
The bill increases funding for border security and local immigration enforcement:
- $47 billion to complete the border wall
- $6 billion for new border surveillance technology
- $30 billion for enforcement and deportation
- $45 billion for immigration detention facilities
- $14 billion for local law enforcement departments who partner with federal authorities
Vice President JD Vance declared that “everything else … is immaterial” compared with the new resources for border enforcement.
“The thing that will bankrupt this country more than any other policy is flooding the country with illegal immigration and then giving those migrants generous benefits,” Vance wrote on X. The Republican tax bill “fixes this problem.”
How the GOP Should Message
While Democrats continue to protect violent criminals who are in this country illegally, Republicans took decisive action to resolve the crisis by finally securing our border, deporting criminal illegal immigrants, and stopping the flow of tax dollars to non-citizens while our own citizens struggle to afford the high cost-of-living. Every Democrat voted against protecting our own citizens.
Meanwhile, JB Pritzker and Brandon Johnson still refuse to let local law enforcement coordinate with federal authorities, purposely creating chaos and fear in immigrant communities. Not only does this make our communities less safe, but now it will cost taxpayers as this will make our local law enforcement ineligible for our state’s share of $14 billion in new funding.
