URBANA — Governor JB Pritzker wants Illinoisans to participate in “mass activism” to let Congress know they oppose the Trump administration’s cuts to food and agriculture programs.
The governor spoke at a panel in Urbana on Wednesday with U.S Rep. Nikki Budzinski (D-Springfield). He said President Trump and Elon Musk were on a “crusade to pay for massive tax cuts for the wealthy.”
With Democrats in the minority in Washington, Pritzker says it’s up to people to show they’re against the administration’s actions — including those that hurt services that help people get enough to eat.
“When fresh food isn’t getting to pantries and people aren’t able to survive because they are food insecure and now more so, that matters,” said Pritzker. “It matters, and having those voices heard matters.”
Gov. Pritzker’s visit to Urbana on Wednesday was the first stop on his “Standing Up for Illinois Tour.” A news release from his office says the governor is joining forces with members of Illinois’ congressional delegation to “shed light on how the Trump administration’s extreme agenda is hurting Illinoisans.”
The panel was held at the Sola Gratia vegetable farm in Urbana. The small church-sponsored farm could lose grant funding from sources — such as the Local Food Purchasing Assistance Program — that help its owners donate fresh vegetables to food pantries and soup kitchens.
Other federal programs at risk of being cut promote conservation practices, organic farming and improvements in energy efficiency on the farm.
Other participants on the panel included Illinois Agriculture Director Jerry Costello II, representatives from Sola Gratia, the farm and food business support group Land Connection, and environmental organizations, including the Prairie Rivers Network and the Illinois Environmental Council.
An audience member asked the governor if he was hearing any concerns about cuts to federal agriculture programs from commodity farmers who make Illinois the top soybean-producing state in the nation, the number two state for corn production, and number ten for wheat. Pritzker said he has.
“Shockingly, they’re showing up and asking me for help”, said Pritzker. “And remember, these are people who have voices in Washington, that are on the other side of the aisle that they often talk to, but all of a sudden, those people are, you know, mute.”
Before his visit to Sola Gratia, Pritzker stopped by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus to meet with officials from the Soybean Innovation Lab, which oversaw research into developing soybean production in African countries. The SIL and other projects in the Feed the Future program recently received termination notices, becoming one of many foreign aid programs to be closed by the Trump Administration.
The second stop on the governor’s statewide campaign was scheduled for Thursday afternoon, when Pritzker was set to meet with U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Naperville) in Romeoville to address possible cuts to Social Security.