At a Center for American Progress event on Tuesday, Gov. JB Prtizker (D-IL) spoke about President Trump's and Elon Musks' cuts to the federal government.
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00:00who would be doing it.
00:02But I was reading the paper this morning.
00:05I know people are concerned about the future
00:09of the Democratic Party and concerned about what direction
00:12we're going.
00:13And I thought I wanted to share with all of you
00:16the headline that I read this morning, which
00:18is, Democratic leaders stand real still in hopes
00:23that no one will notice them.
00:26That, of course, was a headline from The Onion.
00:30Luckily, CAP has long been a bulwark developing better
00:35policies for working people.
00:37And in these first two months of President Musk's
00:40administration, you've stepped up.
00:45CAP has really done an amazing job
00:47of building a reputation for many years,
00:53but putting it to good work and good use
00:56just over the last, well, 60 days.
00:58So thank you.
00:59Boy, oh boy, do we need you.
01:01And keep going.
01:03I got into this work for much the same reason
01:06that many of you probably did.
01:08Policy at its core is the result of choices
01:13that we make about the kind of world that we want to live in.
01:17What kind of future do we want?
01:20In Deuteronomy chapter 16, verse 20, we're commanded justice.
01:27Justice shall you pursue.
01:29Justice.
01:31And I was taught by my parents that when you see injustice,
01:35you don't look the other way.
01:36You do something to right the wrong.
01:40But the meme lords and the minions in the White House
01:44conceive of themselves as kings and nobles
01:48who have the divine right to order the world
01:51in a way that best suits them and their fellow kleptocrats.
01:58People's lives are a game to them.
02:01I really think that's how they think.
02:04During Donald Trump's first term,
02:06when COVID was running rampant,
02:07we governors begged him to help us.
02:11Begged.
02:12The President of the United States
02:14has the unique power to invoke the Defense Production Act.
02:17It's a law designed to ensure the supply of materials
02:21and services for national defense during crises.
02:26We needed masks and ventilators to save people's lives
02:30that were dying in our hospitals.
02:34And U.S. companies were price-gouging,
02:36and I called many of them myself and talked to the CEOs.
02:40They were price-gouging state and local governments,
02:43police and firefighters, hospitals and clinics.
02:48He could have fought for us.
02:50He really could have.
02:52Instead, he made self-serving deals.
02:55He would send life-saving equipment
02:59if only we would agree to praise him on the Sunday talk shows.
03:03That is literally a deal that he put in front of me.
03:08I was desperate.
03:09My hospitals were filling up, and time was of the essence.
03:14So I agreed that I would do that if he sent me what we needed,
03:19because my job at the time was to do virtually anything
03:23to get the White House to help us save lives.
03:28Needless to say, he never delivered for us.
03:32He never delivered for the American people,
03:34and Donald Trump proved who he really is
03:37in that critical moment.
03:40Is it incompetence, or is it treachery?
03:43Which one?
03:45In 2025, he's proving it's both.
03:49Americans are experiencing the cruelty
03:51that comes with authoritarian rule.
03:53Donald Trump has handed over the reins of power
03:56to Elon Musk and his fellow dogebags
04:02so that they can find trillions of dollars
04:04that they need to give themselves a massive tax break.
04:08Think about that.
04:10What Musk and Trump are doing isn't about efficiencies
04:14or about cost savings.
04:16It is about cruelty.
04:20They're intentionally breaking the system
04:22and giving themselves the authority
04:24to rebuild it in their own interest.
04:28They've shut down cancer research and investments
04:30in cures for diabetes and Alzheimer's.
04:34They've eliminated safe drinking water regulations
04:37and allowed companies' unfettered ability
04:40to pollute the air their employees
04:43and all of us breathe.
04:45Homeless veterans have lost the support
04:48that they were getting to rebuild their lives.
04:50Seeing a doctor at the VA hospital
04:53has now become a luxury for them.
04:57Tariffs designed to help pay for tax breaks for the wealthy
05:01have now raised taxes on the middle class
05:04and working class.
05:05The price of tomatoes and lettuce and beer
05:08at the grocery store is up.
05:11And people are literally smuggling eggs
05:13across the border from Mexico
05:15because they can't find them
05:18or they're not affordable at their local grocery stores.
05:22And congressional Republicans are aiming
05:24at eliminating health care coverage for working families.
05:28It's a foregone conclusion
05:30unless the Senate Republicans defy Trump,
05:33and there's a fat chance of that happening.
05:36There's no grandmaster strategy
05:39to improve the lives of everyday Americans.
05:42This is true villainous cruelty
05:45by a few idiots who are trying to figure out
05:49how to pull off the scam of their lives.
05:53They're armed with the power of the presidency
05:56and their sights are aimed on working people,
06:00many of whom voted for them,
06:02never imagining what this would turn out to be.
06:06Here we are.
06:07Things are bad and they're getting worse.
06:11They're now openly acknowledging
06:15that there will be a recession or stagflation,
06:18and they think that's okay.
06:20They're trying to sell it.
06:22If you're living paycheck to paycheck
06:24and you can't pay your bills,
06:26a recession will be devastating for you and for your family.
06:31But Elon Musk is okay with you experiencing economic pain.
06:35This is all cruel, incompetent recklessness.
06:41And 60 days in, the signs are there.
06:44It's already pissing off everyday Americans.
06:48And here's where Democrats have to be honest with ourselves.
06:52Donald Trump didn't just ride into power
06:54on the backs of oligarchs who wanted tax cuts so badly
06:58that they were willing to throw a record stock market
07:00into the toilet for them.
07:02No, a number of Americans, 49.8%,
07:06went to the ballot box,
07:08agreeing with Democratic positions on the issues
07:11most important to their lives,
07:13and they picked the other guy.
07:16Democrats are the party whose policies
07:18are all about working families.
07:22We know this.
07:23This is cap, after all.
07:25You guys write white papers about this.
07:29But when there's a disconnect between Democratic policies
07:33and people's recognition of those policies, we lose.
07:38If we want to regain the trust of the voters
07:41that we stand for, Democrats have to deliver.
07:46For sure, we have to call out the BS
07:49that Republicans have been selling.
07:51But meanwhile, Democrats have to make people's lives better.
07:56Now, I'm from Illinois.
07:57And when I won my first election,
07:59it was clear on day one that we had a government infrastructure
08:03that had withered from neglect and a lack of public trust.
08:07The state of Illinois government had been withering away.
08:12For decades, Illinois politicians underfunded schools and pensions
08:17and passed budgets with unsustainable deficits.
08:21But over the past six years,
08:22we've focused on fiscal responsibility.
08:25We've been lifting up working families
08:27and addressing social and economic justice.
08:30Democrats in Illinois have been steadily delivering
08:33on making life easier and more affordable.
08:37We've expanded childcare,
08:39and we've enacted a universal preschool program.
08:42We've canceled $300 million of working-class
08:46and middle-class families' medical debts.
08:49And we've lowered the cost of prescription drugs.
08:52We've made college more affordable,
08:54and we've expanded financial aid by more than 75%.
09:05More kids are going to college tuition-free in Illinois
09:09than ever before.
09:15We eliminated the state tax on groceries.
09:18We lowered taxes on 300,000 small businesses,
09:21and we enacted a child tax credit.
09:24Now, I'm a businessman, and I'm the first one to tell you
09:28that government shouldn't be run like a business.
09:31But one thing I'm pretty good at
09:33is attracting new investment and jobs to our state.
09:37Illinois is now number two in the nation
09:39for corporate expansions and relocation destinations.
09:43That wasn't the case 10 years ago or 20 years ago.
09:47We enshrined protections for reproductive rights
09:50two years before Dobbs.
09:57And we banned book bans.
10:03And we've made sure that the history taught in our schools
10:07is more honest and accurate, not less honest.
10:11I believe that the only way to govern
10:13is by delivering the big things that help people.
10:18And it's making it so that people who need to
10:23can afford a home and child care,
10:26making enough money so that they don't have
10:28to work their whole lives.
10:30They can actually retire.
10:32It means making it easier to get an education,
10:35to start a small business, become financially stable.
10:39And yes, in this day and age, it means fighting for all of that
10:43while defending what it means to live
10:46in a constitutional republic.
10:54This moment is hard.
10:57I don't dispute that.
10:59But there's clarity in being on the side
11:02of human decency and kindness.
11:05It means that when challenges arise,
11:08you have something to hold on to, a vision to anchor to,
11:12a hope to fight for.