Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) speaks to the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Good morning, everyone.
00:03Good morning, everyone.
00:06Thank you so much.
00:11Oh, man, we have three rows here, three floors here.
00:15Thank you so much for joining us.
00:19I'm told, actually, this is one of our largest events with people here in the rooms as well as online.
00:27I'm Neera Tanden.
00:28I'm the president of the Center for American Progress.
00:31And today we are launching CAP's new speaker series on the path forward for the country.
00:37We will be hosting visionary leaders with different views and experiences who will offer new ideas on how to lead in this moment.
00:45And I can think of no one better to kick off this series than Governor J.B. Pritzker of Illinois.
00:52He is a doer and a fighter.
00:55He's raised the minimum wage to put money directly in the pockets of working people and relieved medical debt for nearly 300,000 Illinoisans.
01:04So I'm going to give him a round of applause.
01:10He has also expanded access to college, and today more students are attending public universities in Illinois than ever before.
01:19He's also unafraid to call out the recklessness and assaults of Donald Trump and his administration.
01:27And I can say Governor Pritzker does not cower to bullies.
01:37In the face of a president hell-bent on cutting services, stripping away rights, and consolidating power for the wealthy and well-connected,
01:47we at CAP are also ready to fight back and do it fiercely.
01:51But opposition alone is not enough.
01:53We cannot meet this moment by simply resisting bad ideas.
01:57We must offer better ones.
01:59We must demonstrate there's an alternative agenda out there that prioritizes solving the American people's problems,
02:08so that people have a real choice between two visions of change rather than a choice between Trump's wrecking ball and the status quo.
02:16Governor Pritzker is showing the way in Illinois, and he's showing America as well what effective leadership looks like,
02:26leadership that solves people's problems while bringing folks together rather than tearing them apart.
02:32Now, some people look at the current moment and think there's a conflict between fighting Trump's extremism and offering practical solutions,
02:41but I think that's a false choice.
02:43In fact, the extremism of this administration allows us to build a resilient majority in the country that captures a broad spectrum,
02:53and that is a model for Governor Pritzker's leadership as well.
02:57That's why I really am so thrilled to have Governor Pritzker here, because I do think in this moment,
03:03when people are scared, sometimes despairing, because we see so much, so many assaults all around us,
03:12it's important that we have leaders who demonstrate a fight, fighting for all of us.
03:18And in the fight, there is hope, because only when you fight can you win.
03:24And that is why I am so excited to have Governor Pritzker here, definitely a fighter.
03:29Governor Pritzker?
03:30Governor Pritzker?
03:40Well, good day, everyone.
03:41It's great to see you, and I have to say I did not see that the title of my talk, apparently, is A Better Way Forward.
03:51So I guess that's what I'll be talking about today.
03:55Although I think about that, and I think the only way out is through, and that is where we are.
04:02So thank you very much, Neera.
04:04Thank you for inviting me.
04:06I want to say what an honor it is to be here at the Center for American Progress.
04:12I admire this organization.
04:14I've supported and followed some of the policy recommendations and implemented them, in fact, in the state of Illinois.
04:21As Neera knows, I've been involved for many years in early childhood education, early childhood development, long before I was governor.
04:29And it was CAP that was really writing policy that I was thinking I wanted to make sure that elected officials would implement.
04:38Little did I know that I would end up being the elected official who would be doing it.
04:43But I was reading the paper this morning.
04:46I know people are concerned about the future of the Democratic Party and concerned about what direction we're going.
04:54And I thought I wanted to share with all of you the headline that I read this morning, which is,
05:00Democratic leaders stand real still in hopes that no one will notice them.
05:07That, of course, was a headline from The Onion.
05:11Luckily, CAP has long been a bulwark developing better policies for working people.
05:18And in these first two months of President Musk's administration, you've stepped up.
05:26CAP has really done an amazing job of building a reputation for many years,
05:34but putting it to good work and good use just over the last, well, 60 days.
05:39So thank you.
05:40Boy, oh boy, do we need you.
05:42And keep going.
05:44I got into this work for much the same reason that many of you probably did.
05:49Policy at its core is the result of choices that we make about the kind of world that we want to live in.
05:58What kind of future do we want?
06:01In Deuteronomy 16, verse 20, we're commanded, justice, justice shall you pursue.
06:10Justice.
06:12And I was taught by my parents that when you see injustice, you don't look the other way.
06:17You do something to right the wrong.
06:21But the meme lords and the minions in the White House conceive of themselves as kings and nobles
06:29who have the divine right to order the world in a way that best suits them and their fellow kleptocrats.
06:39People's lives are a game to them.
06:42I really think that's how they think.
06:45During Donald Trump's first term, when COVID was running rampant, we governors begged him to help us.
06:52Begged.
06:54The President of the United States has the unique power to invoke the Defense Production Act.
06:58It's a law designed to ensure the supply of materials and services for national defense during crises.
07:07We needed masks and ventilators to save people's lives that were dying in our hospitals.
07:15And U.S. companies were price gouging, and I called many of them myself and talked to the CEOs.
07:21They were price gouging state and local governments, police and firefighters, hospitals and clinics.
07:29He could have fought for us.
07:31He really could have.
07:33Instead, he made self-serving deals.
07:36He would send life-saving equipment if only we would agree to praise him on the Sunday talk shows.
07:44That is literally a deal that he put in front of me.
07:49I was desperate.
07:51My hospitals were filling up, and time was of the essence.
07:55So I agreed that I would do that if he sent me what we needed.
08:00Because my job at the time was to do virtually anything to get the White House to help us save lives.
08:08Needless to say, he never delivered for us.
08:12He never delivered for the American people.
08:15And Donald Trump proved who he really is in that critical moment.
08:21Is it incompetence or is it treachery?
08:24Which one?
08:26In 2025, he's proving it's both.
08:30Americans are experiencing the cruelty that comes with authoritarian rule.
08:34Donald Trump has handed over the reins of power to Elon Musk and his fellow doge bags
08:43so that they can find trillions of dollars that they need to give themselves a massive tax break.
08:49Think about that.
08:51What Musk and Trump are doing isn't about efficiencies or about cost savings.
08:57It is about cruelty.
09:01They're intentionally breaking the system and giving themselves the authority to rebuild it in their own interest.
09:09They've shut down cancer research and investments in cures for diabetes and Alzheimer's.
09:15They've eliminated safe drinking water regulations
09:18and allowed companies' unfettered ability to pollute the air their employees and all of us breathe.
09:26Homeless veterans have lost the support that they were getting to rebuild their lives.
09:32Seeing a doctor at the VA hospital has now become a luxury for them.
09:38Tariffs designed to help pay for tax breaks for the wealthy
09:42have now raised taxes on the middle class and working class.
09:47The price of tomatoes and lettuce and beer at the grocery store is up.
09:52And people are literally smuggling eggs across the border from Mexico
09:57because they can't find them or they're not affordable at their local grocery stores.
10:03And congressional Republicans are aiming at eliminating health care coverage for working families.
10:09It's a foregone conclusion unless the Senate Republicans defy Trump.
10:14And there's a fat chance of that happening.
10:17There's no grandmaster strategy to improve the lives of everyday Americans.
10:23This is true villainous cruelty by a few idiots
10:29who are trying to figure out how to pull off the scam of their lives.
10:34They're armed with the power of the presidency and their sights are aimed on working people,
10:41many of whom voted for them, never imagining what this would turn out to be.
10:47Here we are. Things are bad and they're getting worse.
10:52They're now openly acknowledging that there will be a recession or stagflation.
10:59And they think that's okay. They're trying to sell it.
11:03If you're living paycheck to paycheck and you can't pay your bills,
11:07a recession will be devastating for you and for your family.
11:12But Elon Musk is okay with you experiencing economic pain.
11:17This is all cruel, incompetent recklessness.
11:22And 60 days in, the signs are there.
11:25It's already pissing off everyday Americans.
11:29And here's where Democrats have to be honest with ourselves.
11:33Donald Trump didn't just ride into power on the backs of oligarchs
11:37who wanted tax cuts so badly that they were willing to throw a record stock market into the toilet for them.
11:43No, a number of Americans, 49.8%,
11:47went to the ballot box agreeing with Democratic positions on the issues most important to their lives,
11:54and they picked the other guy.
11:57Democrats are the party whose policies are all about working families.
12:03We know this. This is cap, after all.
12:07You guys write white papers about this.
12:10But when there's a disconnect between Democratic policies
12:14and people's recognition of those policies, we lose.
12:19If we want to regain the trust of the voters that we stand for,
12:24Democrats have to deliver.
12:27For sure, we have to call out the BS that Republicans have been selling.
12:32But meanwhile, Democrats have to make people's lives better.
12:37Now, I'm from Illinois, and when I won my first election,
12:40it was clear on day one that we had a government infrastructure
12:44that had withered from neglect and a lack of public trust.
12:48The state of Illinois government had been withering away.
12:53For decades, Illinois politicians underfunded schools and pensions
12:58and passed budgets with unsustainable deficits.
13:02But over the past six years, we've focused on fiscal responsibility.
13:06We've been lifting up working families
13:08and addressing social and economic justice.
13:11Democrats in Illinois have been steadily delivering
13:14on making life easier and more affordable.
13:18We've expanded child care,
13:20and we've enacted a universal preschool program.
13:23We've canceled $300 million of working-class
13:27and middle-class families' medical debts.
13:30And we've lowered the cost of prescription drugs.
13:33We've made college more affordable,
13:35and we've expanded financial aid by more than 75%.
13:46More kids are going to college tuition-free in Illinois than ever before.
13:56We eliminated the state tax on groceries,
13:59we lowered taxes on 300,000 small businesses,
14:02and we enacted a child tax credit.
14:05Now, I'm a businessman, and I'm the first one to tell you
14:09that government shouldn't be run like a business.
14:12But one thing I'm pretty good at
14:14is attracting new investment and jobs to our state.
14:18Illinois is now number two in the nation
14:20for corporate expansions and relocation destinations.
14:24That wasn't the case 10 years ago or 20 years ago.
14:28We enshrined protections for reproductive rights
14:31two years before Dobbs.
14:38And we banned book bans.
14:44And we've made sure that the history taught in our schools
14:48is more honest and accurate, not less honest.
14:52I believe that the only way to govern
14:54is by delivering the big things that help people.
14:59And it's making it so that people who need to
15:04can afford a home and child care,
15:07making enough money so that they don't have to work their whole lives.
15:11They can actually retire.
15:13It means making it easier to get an education,
15:16to start a small business, become financially stable.
15:20And yes, in this day and age,
15:22it means fighting for all of that
15:25while defending what it means to live in a constitutional republic.
15:36This moment is hard.
15:38I don't dispute that.
15:40But there's clarity in being on the side of human decency and kindness.
15:47It means that when challenges arise,
15:50you have something to hold on to,
15:52a vision to anchor to, a hope to fight for.
15:56About 150 years ago, the great city of Chicago burned to the ground.
16:02One in three residents was left without a home.
16:05And facing that devastation,
16:07leaders might have been so paralyzed by the overwhelming task at hand
16:13that Chicago's story could have been left to the ash heap of history.
16:18But the city wasn't just rebuilt.
16:21It was reborn.
16:23Chicago went from a small Midwest town
16:26to one of the biggest cities in the United States.
16:29Entrepreneurs and innovators flocked in.
16:31Residents buckled down.
16:33Chicago rose from the ashes
16:35to demonstrate what American ingenuity looks like.
16:39It would have been easy for our city leaders to throw in the towel,
16:43to string together a middling recovery in the face of enormous despair.
16:48But when the cinders and the ash cleared,
16:51Chicagoans had built architectural wonders
16:54and literally went on to invent the first skyscrapers.
16:59It seems wherever we look right now, there is fire.
17:04There are embers.
17:06Trump and his bootlickers designed it that way.
17:10It should scare us, but it should not deter us.
17:16So let it instead be a call to action to all of us.
17:20Together we can build something bigger and better.
17:23Thank you very much.
17:25Thank you so much for those remarks.
17:39Governor Pritzker, I'm going to ask a few questions
17:42and then we'll take audience questions.
17:44So get your questions ready.
17:46I think I wanted to just start where you ended,
17:50which is on the embers all around us
17:56and what the leaders in Chicago did to rebuild.
18:00You talked a lot about your record and what you've done,
18:05but I guess I'd ask you to just step back
18:07and discuss what you think we should be doing going forward
18:13or how does your experience in Illinois,
18:19what do those experiences tell us
18:21about how we can have a vision for the future?
18:25Well, I think I mentioned to all of you,
18:27and I want to be clear, we were in pretty dire straits.
18:31We had $17 billion of unpaid bills when I came into office.
18:35We had had a Republican governor
18:37who essentially refused to sign a budget,
18:41so two years without a budget,
18:43longer than any state in the nation ever.
18:47And we had no rainy day fund.
18:49Think about the pandemic that was to come.
18:53No rainy day fund.
18:54We hadn't balanced the budget in years in Illinois.
18:58And we had the lowest credit rating in the nation.
19:02Pension challenges.
19:03I mean, the list goes on.
19:05By the way, there were lots of people who said,
19:07you don't want to be governor of Illinois.
19:10The problems are too great.
19:11You're going to have to declare bankruptcy or something.
19:13There isn't bankruptcy for a state, I might add.
19:17But, you know, when I think about what we were facing,
19:20I mean, it was pretty daunting.
19:23I think the thing that has gotten us through that
19:28is focusing on working families, focusing on lifting up.
19:33You know, what is it that people really want?
19:36The challenges that people are facing at the kitchen table
19:39are the very challenges that the Democratic Party
19:42is best at addressing.
19:44And we have better ideas.
19:46And I'll just throw, you know, just one.
19:49And there are many that I'd love to talk about.
19:51Maybe we'll get a chance.
19:52But why are we not all screaming about the $7.25 minimum wage
19:58in this country?
20:00No one can live on it.
20:01No one.
20:05We Democrats are the ones who, we believe in lifting up people.
20:09Right, $7.25, $14,000 a year, you can't raise a family
20:14and you can barely live on yourself.
20:16In fact, I don't think you can on your own.
20:18$7.25.
20:20If you ask Republicans what their view on the minimum wage is,
20:23they'll give you one of two answers.
20:25They don't want to raise it,
20:26or they wish there wasn't a minimum wage.
20:29Now, what a contrast.
20:31We're a party that believes in a living wage for people.
20:35And they're a party who believes in lowest-cost labor is best,
20:40what for them and for Elon Musk and the people they represent.
20:46So I really believe that if we center ourselves,
20:50and we have in Illinois, on what's best for working families,
20:53what's best for the middle class,
20:55what's best for the most vulnerable people in our society,
20:58that that is where Democrats belong, right?
21:01Guess what?
21:02Elon Musk doesn't need a lot of help.
21:05But that child who's been abandoned,
21:08the child who's in foster care,
21:11that family that lost their job
21:14or the family that's just challenged to make ends meet
21:18and living paycheck to paycheck, that's who we represent.
21:23And, by the way, folks who just want to get ahead
21:26and they want success, they want opportunity,
21:29we believe in that.
21:31We ought to be, by the way, the party of small businesses.
21:34Why are we not the party of small business?
21:36We ought to be the party of small business, helping people.
21:38This is the next...
21:40Once you've got a job, you get a promotion,
21:44you're doing well at your work,
21:48the opportunity to get ahead by building some capital,
21:52some equity for yourself going forward
21:55is something there are a lot of people who want.
21:58And we ought to be making that easier for people to get.
22:02Instead, I think the Republicans try to convince people
22:05that they're the ones who stand up for job creation
22:07and economic growth.
22:09We should be the party that stands up for job creation
22:12and economic growth and helping people get a better wage.
22:16Great, so I'd love to just follow up on that
22:19because I think a lot of people might ask,
22:23you know, how do we differentiate
22:26from some of the things we've done in the past?
22:28And you've talked about really tangible benefits to people,
22:33access to college, prescription drugs,
22:36and maybe that's a way to differentiate
22:39from some of the efforts that we've made in the past
22:41in terms of trying to really communicate
22:44what we're doing for working-class people.
22:46So beyond the minimum wage, it would be great
22:49if you could share really tangible things
22:52you've done in Illinois to improve the lives
22:54of working-class people.
22:56Okay, so let's, I mean, talk about,
22:58I think, the three big things,
23:00and they're probably each of us could add
23:02a fourth and a fifth big thing
23:04that really matters in people's lives, right?
23:06I mean, being able to get a good education.
23:09It's got to be, I mean, when you think about the future,
23:11your prospects for getting a good job and a better wage, right?
23:15Having a good education for your kids, for yourself,
23:18the ability to improve your own standing, education.
23:21We should be investing in education.
23:23And in Illinois, since I've come into office,
23:26we've put $2.5 billion more into public education,
23:31and we've focused a lot on our community colleges.
23:34We have the third-largest community college system
23:36in the entire nation.
23:38It's one of the best in the country.
23:40And those community colleges are partnered with businesses
23:44in their regions.
23:46Again, we have 48 of them across the state of Illinois.
23:50In those regions, those businesses are asking
23:53community colleges to create the programs
23:56that will help them get the workforce that they need.
24:00And then we're focused also on what's the future workforce
24:03need to look like.
24:05In Illinois, for example, we're making big investments
24:07in quantum.
24:09And that workforce, I mean, it's going to look different,
24:13but it needs to start in high school,
24:16in community college, in universities.
24:18It's not about, you know, creating scientists
24:21or inventing the next new quantum technology necessarily,
24:26but all the jobs that get created by the new world
24:29that we're going to live in by virtue of the investments
24:31that we're making.
24:33So education is hugely important,
24:35and we've made the investments in Illinois
24:37that will make a difference.
24:39We have some of the best universities in the entire world.
24:42Second, health care.
24:45First of all, I hope that the message of the Democratic Party
24:50and certainly my message is we're for universal health care.
24:54Everybody should have a doctor.
24:57It's just like when I talk about early childhood,
25:04which I won't jump into now, but, I mean, this is, you know,
25:08when you make investments in early childhood,
25:10you're actually saving money over the long haul.
25:13The investments you make in those early years,
25:15the investment you make in people's health care
25:17and keeping people healthy,
25:19it's one of the reasons the Affordable Care Act
25:21is so successful, right,
25:23that it focused on that kind of preventative care.
25:27You know, making those investments
25:29has been hugely important.
25:30In Illinois, when I showed up in office,
25:32there were 140,000 Medicaid applications
25:37that the prior governor had just let sit there,
25:40like unprocessed applications,
25:43people who really need health care
25:45unable to get health care just because,
25:48well, if you slow it all down,
25:49it's almost like what Elon Musk
25:51is trying to get our government to do now,
25:53but we went through it, you know, seven years ago,
25:56eight years ago.
25:57So health care to me is, you know, it's a right.
26:02It's also good for our society,
26:04and very importantly, I think, good for our economy.
26:07If you want to be fiscally responsible,
26:09keep people healthy that live in your state.
26:12So health care, and we've made those investments.
26:15Not only do we process those 140,000,
26:17but we've also changed the way we deal with health care.
26:19For example, I don't know how many of you
26:21have had the experience of prior authorization,
26:24seeking prior authorization for some kind of insurance,
26:28you know, you hope your insurance company
26:30will cover some kind of condition.
26:33They demand prior authorization on so many important things,
26:36including emergency mental health.
26:39Now think about this, and I have a friend
26:41who called me to tell me his personal story,
26:44that his daughter was having a mental health crisis.
26:47She, in fact, one night tried to commit suicide,
26:52and he obviously called an ambulance.
26:57They were in an ambulance together
26:59on their way to a hospital that had a care unit
27:03for people who had mental health issues,
27:07and he had to call his insurance company
27:10to get prior authorization to allow her
27:14to check into this hospital.
27:16They rejected it.
27:18Now what are you going to do?
27:20Your daughter just tried to commit suicide.
27:22I mean, it really chokes me up.
27:24What would you do if you couldn't afford otherwise?
27:31He happened to know somebody at the hospital,
27:33and so he called and said,
27:35I am going to make sure that they cover me.
27:37I promise you, you know, I will write the check myself
27:40if I need to or work it off, but please let us come.
27:45And they did.
27:46Now eventually he got the insurance company
27:48over the next 24 hours to do the right thing,
27:50but we have now made it illegal in Illinois
27:53for insurance companies to deny emergency mental health care.
28:01And then I'll just give a third one and we'll move on,
28:03but I mean, so, you know, education, health care,
28:07look, job creation.
28:10Let's talk, you know,
28:11you know where most of the jobs come from.
28:13They don't come from large businesses.
28:15We should be helping large businesses
28:17continue to be successful,
28:20but most jobs that get created in our society
28:23get created by small businesses and startup businesses,
28:27and there are a lot of people with really good creative ideas,
28:30and some people will start businesses and fail.
28:33That's true, but there are also a lot of businesses
28:36that get started that succeed and wildly so.
28:39I often remind people that the big-name companies in Illinois
28:42that you can think of, John Deere, for example,
28:47Navistar and others,
28:49those companies were small startup businesses at some point.
28:53Now, they're huge employers in the country and in the world,
28:58but they were just startup businesses at one time,
29:02and especially our party.
29:04We ought to be helping people get started in business.
29:06We ought to be helping because it creates jobs.
29:09You know, the idea that someone's going to build capital
29:12and plant it right here in the United States
29:15because they're a U.S. citizen,
29:17because they believe in wherever it is that they live,
29:19or that's where they're going to create the business,
29:21we ought to be...
29:22I mean, that is, in my view,
29:24something that should be fundamental to our society.
29:28Now, Donald Trump doesn't believe that.
29:30Donald Trump is all about the largest business owners
29:34and the wealthiest people
29:35and doing what's easy and best for them
29:38and not thinking about the little guy,
29:41the small business that's just getting started,
29:43and how are we going to make it easier for them?
29:46So I just think, and when I think about these things,
29:49the philosophy difference between our parties is so great.
29:53We need to present it properly to people.
29:56We need to make sure people really understand
29:58what the Democratic Party is all about,
30:00but it is about lifting up people who want to get ahead
30:03or standing up for people who are most vulnerable
30:06or who are being discriminated against.
30:10Just a note on the tariffs.
30:11When he excludes companies for the tariffs,
30:15they're always the big companies.
30:17The small business suppliers don't get the exemptions.
30:19Can I give you an example of a business in Illinois?
30:21I was just with a small business, startup business,
30:25a craft brewer.
30:26We have a big craft brewery industry in Illinois.
30:31It's not unique to the Midwest,
30:33but we have a lot of beer drinkers.
30:35I think Wisconsin has more bars per capita than any other,
30:39which I admire, but we have a lot of craft brewers.
30:44We have a great industry there.
30:45But there are four guys who come from the south side of Chicago
30:49who started a business, craft brewery business,
30:52and it's award-winning.
30:55I tried all four of the beers they make.
30:58I sat with these guys and talked to them about their business.
31:02But this was before the tariffs, about two months ago,
31:05and I asked them,
31:07what will happen to your business if the tariffs on Canada
31:11and Mexico go in place?
31:13They told me that if the tariffs on Canada go in place,
31:21the cost of barley will go up by 25%,
31:24and that's a prime ingredient, and they buy it from Canada.
31:29The cost of aluminum to make the cans that they put their beer in
31:33will go up enormously,
31:35and to buy a can of their beer will go up at least 25%,
31:40partly because others will take advantage of the fact that
31:44the smaller startup business will struggle.
31:48And so these guys said, if the tariffs go in place,
31:52we may have to go out of business.
31:54Well, here we are.
31:55Those tariffs are in place,
31:57and unfortunately that brewery is going to struggle.
32:01Now, they're hoping and praying that these tariffs will end
32:04sometime soon so that they can continue on the path of building their
32:08business before they have to go out of business.
32:12But this is the kind of example that, you know,
32:17the tariffs are having a terrible effect on, again,
32:20it's go to the grocery store, your tomatoes, your lettuce,
32:22your beer at the grocery store.
32:25By the way, the big beer companies,
32:27they're going to absorb some of the costs for a little while.
32:30They're going to suffer profitability.
32:34But they're going to be able to survive for some period of time,
32:39and also they're global.
32:41The small beer companies and the startup craft brewer aren't going to make it
32:45if Donald Trump succeeds at what he's trying to do.
32:48So I'm going to ask one more question,
32:50and then we'll take questions from the audience.
32:52And we'll take questions both from our in-person audience
32:55and our online audience as well.
32:59I think one, just to switch it up a little bit, you know,
33:02I think there's a big, robust debate right now about how to fight,
33:06when to fight the Trump administration.
33:09So I think it would just be great for you to tell us how you as a governor can
33:14fight, how your attorneys generals, the attorneys generals are fighting,
33:19your attorney generals fighting.
33:21How are you engaged in pushing back?
33:25So, you know, we have a terrific delegation that we sent to Washington
33:30from the state of Illinois.
33:35Unfortunately, Congress is dysfunctional,
33:39and so dysfunctional now because people are just cowed by this administration.
33:46They're concerned about being primaried or, you know, they feel some threat,
33:51and they're either laying low.
33:53They're certainly not taking up their responsibilities in Congress to,
33:57you know, frankly,
33:59to do what Congress is supposed to do with regard to the other branches of
34:03government.
34:05So this is, for a governor, right, we don't, I can't affect federal laws.
34:12There's only so much that I can do to push back from a legal perspective.
34:16We can go to court, and we are, and we have.
34:19And I'm fortunate because I've got a terrific attorney general, Kwame Raul,
34:23who's been part of many of the suits.
34:25In fact, so many of these suits have been successful,
34:27and he's been a part of them.
34:29And that's great, but we shouldn't have to rely upon that.
34:32That's just where we are in this world.
34:36The pushback that I can offer is, first,
34:39do the best I can to run a state that is really all about working people
34:43and the most vulnerable.
34:45But second, it's I've got a bully pulpit.
34:48I'm the fifth largest state in the United States, the fifth largest economy,
34:52the 18th largest economy in the world if we were an independent country.
34:56Sometimes I think maybe we should become an independent country.
34:59No, I'm only kidding.
35:01But the 18th largest economy in the world.
35:03And so the bully pulpit that I get as governor gives me the opportunity at
35:08least to speak to what I think that our common American values are.
35:13And we are the center of the country, the heart of the country,
35:16where we are in the state of Illinois.
35:18We also have a state that is most reflective of the population of the entire United States.
35:23If you look at the demographics of Illinois,
35:25it looks like the demographics of the country.
35:28So it gives me the opportunity to talk about what I think is happening in the country
35:34and the dangers that I think we're facing.
35:37And just as somebody who led the building of a Holocaust museum,
35:42whose family survived the pogroms in Ukraine by escaping to, at that time,
35:49the only place in the world that would really take them in, which is the United States,
35:54I cherish the freedom and the security that this country offers to people,
36:02and not just for immigrants, for all of us who live here.
36:05I'm three generations away from the immigrants who came here not speaking English.
36:11And I still believe that it's the greatest country in the world
36:19and that we have to protect the freedom, the security, the leadership
36:24that this country has established in the world.
36:26And I see it all being taken away, little by little.
36:30It feels like more and more every day.
36:32And we're only roughly 60 days into this administration.
36:36So I worry terribly.
36:38I have sounded the alarm.
36:40I will continue to sound the alarm.
36:42People are responding.
36:44I think that's the, you know, it's happening.
36:46It doesn't feel ever like enough yet.
36:49And I wish that there were more people, more elected leaders, more community leaders,
36:55who will step up and speak up.
36:57There are a lot of people who are afraid, a lot.
37:01I sat in a room of CEOs of businesses, not Illinois businesses,
37:06but these were nationally known businesses, and other senior leadership of those companies.
37:13And they essentially said they're afraid to raise their heads, you know,
37:20that they'll get shot at, so to speak, by the Trump administration.
37:24So they're kind of laying low even as they see everything under attack.
37:31And, I mean, in some cases, you know, I think it's shameful.
37:38They have power to push back.
37:40And I actually think that Trump would listen to that power because those are people he listens to.
37:47But they're afraid.
37:49And so the rest of us, I mean, we can't be afraid.
37:53If you're willing to stand up, to step up, to speak out, you have to do it.
37:58And even if it means, you know, whether you're showing up at a town hall meeting
38:02or you have one in your district at all, you've got a telephone, 202-224-3121, that's Congress's number.
38:11You can reach your congressman or senator.
38:14And you can also gather people in your community and make sure that your voice is heard.
38:21We need to do that.
38:23That is what we have.
38:24That is all Democrats have right now at the federal level is our ability to speak up and speak out.
38:31So fear isn't mobilizing, but courage is contagious.
38:39So we're so ‑‑ we'll move to questions.
38:45Just raise your hand and say who you are.
38:51And we'll try to get as many as possible right here.
38:55I'm David Smith of The Guardian.
38:57Thanks for doing this.
38:59Just when you joined the dots of the press under attack and the deportations,
39:05Trump effectively ignoring court orders, crackdowns on protests on university campuses
39:12and the fear being instilled, the obeying in advance.
39:17How worried are you that this country is sliding towards authoritarianism?
39:24Well, I would commend you to listen to the last ten minutes of my State of the State speech
39:28because I talked about that very thing.
39:33I am deeply concerned about the slide that we're in.
39:36And I mentioned the pogroms and the Holocaust because those are personal experiences, not the Holocaust.
39:45Pogroms are a family experience.
39:47I built the Holocaust Museum.
39:49I have grown up understanding that not just minorities,
39:56but large swaths of people can be under direct attack in an authoritarian regime,
40:02and they will use the majority, lie to the majority,
40:07and use propaganda in order to foment an attack.
40:15And that is currently the case.
40:20We're all seeing the well-orchestrated videos of the raids to take immigrants to this country,
40:32some of whom are legal immigrants to the United States,
40:35some of whom are U.S. citizens, to take them away and to justify it by saying,
40:42well, there are Venezuelan gang members, which I guarantee there are.
40:47And for God's sakes, let's take people who are violent criminals, convicted violent criminals,
40:52and let's remove them from this country if they are here and undocumented.
40:59But when you're doing a sweeping raid, and by the way, on day one, where did they come?
41:04Chicago.
41:06Who did they bring with them?
41:07Dr. Phil.
41:09I'm not exaggerating.
41:10They brought Dr. Phil to Chicago with his new online TV channel.
41:18And why did they do that?
41:21Because they wanted to get the most amount of attention to what they were doing,
41:25not because they wanted to effectuate actually going after violent criminals who are undocumented who should be deported,
41:32but rather they wanted people to see that they're doing something.
41:37And so they'll just take sweeping hundreds of people and take them out.
41:41So, look, you mentioned a lot of things, and defying court orders is a whole other topic of conversation,
41:49hugely important, again, what authoritarian regimes do.
41:53But here's the thing you all ought to do is if you haven't already read about Orban in Hungary,
41:59go read about what he did steadily, not that slowly, to put the noose around that country.
42:08And, you know, Donald Trump admires Orban.
42:13And I believe he and his team have learned from that and are replicating that.
42:20Over here.
42:25Thanks.
42:26Joe Pritikin with The Bulwark.
42:28Given the dissatisfaction with how Democrats handled the funding fight last week, what did you think of that?
42:34And how would you advise them to act for the next crisis, let's say the debt ceiling, which is expiring later this year?
42:41Well, I put out a statement that morning before the vote encouraging the Senate to vote down the CR.
42:49We have to take any opportunity, when we're not in the majority,
42:52we have to take any opportunity where we have leverage in order to stand up and fight.
42:58Now, it's not fight to no end.
43:01What do you use that fight for?
43:03It's to get compromise from this ridiculously, you know, quiet Congress
43:11that goes along with whatever Donald Trump and Elon Musk are telling them.
43:15And so we've got to use those opportunities whenever they come about.
43:21And there was a prime one.
43:22It's probably the first that I can think of where there was a real opportunity for us to stand up and speak out
43:29and to protect the people who we stand up for.
43:35I mean, I'm disappointed about what happened.
43:38I want to commend one of my senators, Tammy Duckworth, who I called to ask her how she was going to vote.
43:48And she said, my vote is hell no.
43:52I love her.
43:56Over here.
43:59Right here.
44:01Yellow tie.
44:02Sorry.
44:04No, it's definitely coming.
44:05And then we'll do an online question, Billy.
44:07Okay.
44:08After that.
44:09Okay.
44:10Governor, my name is David Schiffman.
44:11I teach ocean conservation here at Georgetown.
44:14And my students are brilliant and passionate and amazing people.
44:17They can do anything that they want to do.
44:19And many of them went to college thinking they wanted to do public service.
44:23They wanted to help make our fisheries sustainable for the future and save endangered species and fight climate change.
44:30And they look at what's happening at NOAA and the EPA, and they're scared, and they don't know what to do.
44:36What should I tell my students?
44:39First of all, we all ought to be listening to young people right now.
44:42And they didn't expect that their public service was going to be what I'm about to say,
44:50but this is what the public service is that we need them to do, which is get out there in the streets.
44:55I mean, protest, show up, and make it clear.
45:00Write letters.
45:01Do anything that you can to be noticed.
45:05And it isn't just on the subjects that they're studying and that they want to be expert at,
45:11but rather about the organization and delivery of services by this government.
45:19And so that's the public service that they didn't expect they'd have to do to fight for democracy,
45:24but that is what they're going to have to do right now.
45:27Now, eventually we're going to get back.
45:29I mean, I'm an optimist, though this is a trying time for optimists.
45:36But eventually we're going to get back to a world where what they were aiming to do will be a reality.
45:43But, you know, when you talk about NOAA being, you know, halved,
45:48I can tell you I'm in a state where we have tornadoes somewhat regularly.
45:53We have floods somewhat regularly, certainly more regularly than ever before.
45:58And we need NOAA.
46:00And now we've put millions of people in danger as a result of the cuts that you're referring to.
46:08And so we need your students.
46:10We still will need your students.
46:12And I think that people are waking up to this idea that lives are threatened.
46:18Already, I guarantee you people have lost their lives because of some of the cuts that have been made,
46:24certainly overseas.
46:26And when they get to Medicaid, which they're coming for, people right here at home
46:30and in your own neighborhood, and it's not just poor people.
46:33It's your grandmother in her nursing home.
46:36She's going to have to leave the nursing home and come home, and you're going to have to take care of her.
46:41And she's not going to get the kind of care that she deserves.
46:47And she's just one example.
46:49But, I mean, this is what's happening in our country.
46:52So people who thought they were – listen, do you think I thought when I ran for governor that we'd be faced with –
46:58I knew when I ran because Donald Trump was president that I'd be dealing with Donald Trump for those two years at least.
47:04But I have to say I did not expect what we are seeing right now in our country.
47:09And it pisses me off.
47:12And it makes me want to fight even harder.
47:16Terrific.
47:20And, Radim, what online question?
47:22Governor, we have a question from Lisa Lair of the New York Times.
47:25Are there areas of common ground that Democrats should seek with the new administration,
47:29or should that not be the party's focus?
47:33I love the – of all the online questions you can take, the New York Times just happened to pop up.
47:42I love Lisa.
47:43I'm happy to answer that question.
47:45I – look, I think there's common ground,
47:48but I must say the common ground has to be found with rational Republicans who may disagree with us on policies
47:57but who understand that – and I've talked to some of them in my own state, I might say,
48:03about the fact that, I mean, we have rural areas where critical access hospitals are going to be closed
48:11because Medicaid is going to get cut.
48:13You lose a hospital in an area where it's already 45 minutes or an hour away to get to a hospital,
48:19you lose that hospital, now you're two hours away.
48:23And, I mean, if you're looking for emergency care, you're not going to be able to find it fast enough, I mean.
48:31And so – and the same thing in the city of Chicago, safety net hospitals, same thing.
48:35So I think there is common understanding.
48:39I mean, I – my father was a Navy veteran, my grandfather a Navy veteran, my brother-in-law, my cousin.
48:46I mean, I – my family has a number of Navy – one Army veteran.
48:53We don't hold it against them.
48:55But veteran services, I mean, I've already seen homeless veterans are being tossed aside.
49:06And it's just cruel.
49:09Look, you want efficiency in government, you want to outsource things to private contractors.
49:14I mean, I may not agree with some of that, but if your goal is to serve the people that you represent
49:24or to have government serve vulnerable people or to recognize the service that people have already given
49:30and risking their lives for this country like veterans have.
49:35And you want to do it more efficiently in a different way, okay.
49:39But this is not about efficiency.
49:41This is – they want to shut down departments.
49:44They want to create havoc.
49:47And they already have, right?
49:49They lay people off.
49:51Oh, well, yeah, come back.
49:52We need some of you to come back.
49:55Nobody knows.
49:56If you get told that you might lose your job, you're already looking for another job.
50:00So the idea that expert at NOAA, just for an example, you know, wildlife and fisheries,
50:06an expert is like you think that person hasn't already got their resume out on the street somewhere else.
50:13We need experts in government.
50:15So, you know, my response is that there are a lot of Republicans who want to do the right thing.
50:22They're afraid of Donald Trump.
50:24I think we've all heard that from people we know.
50:27And we're going to – they're going to have to get to a place where services for people that they represent are threatened,
50:34and those people are speaking up and speaking out, and they're hearing it,
50:37and they have to push back on Donald Trump.
50:40So that, I think, is where we'll find common ground.
50:43Okay.
50:44I think we have time for one more question.
50:47We'll go over Anna.
50:52Anna, right there.
50:57Thanks.
50:58Great to be here with you, Governor Pritzker.
51:00Anna Unruh-Cohen with House Natural Resources Democrats.
51:06I think adding to your long list of accomplishments there in Illinois is your work on clean energy deployment
51:13and dealing with climate impacts,
51:15and I wondered if you could talk about why that's important for working families
51:19and how you see that going forward given the attack from the Trump administration on all that work as well.
51:29I am so glad you asked that question.
51:31No, I really – I care deeply.
51:33It was not a plan.
51:34It was not.
51:35I've never met Anna.
51:36Anna?
51:37Anna?
51:38Anna.
51:39I've never met Anna.
51:40I don't even know how to pronounce her name, apparently.
51:41But Anna – so I'm lucky.
51:47I live in a state where about 50 percent of our electricity is produced by nuclear power plants.
51:54Now, there are people who don't like nuclear,
51:57but I have to say in a world where we need to move very quickly
52:01toward a renewable and clean energy-powered world, we're in decent shape.
52:09The problem is we didn't have the policies in place to expand beyond where we were,
52:14which was about 51, 52 percent nuclear, about 7.5 percent renewables,
52:20and the rest was natural gas and coal.
52:23That was when I came into office.
52:25We've virtually tripled the amount of renewables in the state of Illinois now.
52:32So we're approaching – so we're around 70 percent now.
52:38It's not enough, but it's a pretty good direction.
52:41Why does it matter to average working families?
52:44It matters because if we produce energy at a reasonable cost
52:50and we're growing the amount of energy that's available,
52:53we're lowering the cost of electricity.
52:55Now, that's hard in a world that's – where we've had inflation
52:58and lots of other world disruption affecting lots of different kinds of fuels.
53:04But it's – ultimately, it bears itself out that greater supply will lower the cost for existing demand.
53:17The other thing, of course, is that – and I give Joe Biden a lot of credit for this
53:21because he didn't have to do this,
53:23but the IRA really has had an enormous impact on even just average working folks
53:28being able to get their energy from sources that are much lower cost than they were previously.
53:35Now, many of those advantages are now – have now gone away under this new administration.
53:41We've got to bring that back.
53:43But having solar panels on your house, having community solar in your neighborhood,
53:50being able to bring windmills – and, by the way, to make solar panels
53:57and those windmills and blades in the United States,
54:03which is also something that Joe Biden focused on.
54:07And it's hard to do because we were behind.
54:10We were behind.
54:11And we, frankly, are going to fall behind once again
54:16as a result of the current administration's policies.
54:18But working families, we need more electricity.
54:21We need more electric production.
54:23We need to reduce the focus on fossil fuels because your air, your water, your –
54:29everything is affected by whether we're effective at that.
54:31And then, finally, climate change.
54:34I mean, we are living in a world where if we don't get at this much faster,
54:42the hundred-year floods, which now in Illinois seem like they're happening every couple of years,
54:47are going to be more and more often.
54:50And we've already seen deadly storms in some ways worse than ever, ever, and more frequent.
54:57Having said that, I also want to brag that Illinois is in a good place in some ways
55:04in a world moving forward where we're focused on clean energy,
55:07but in particular on the subject of fresh water.
55:11You know, we live on the shores of 20 percent of the world's fresh water.
55:1580 percent of the United States is fresh water in the state.
55:18And we also have rivers and aquifers and other things.
55:22So, you know, I've been to Arizona, Colorado,
55:25and other places where they're suffering – California, you know,
55:30where they're suffering not being able to access enough fresh water.
55:36That's not going to be a problem for the state of Illinois.
55:38But, once again, advantages of living in Illinois.
55:41So, please, move to Illinois, everybody.
55:44Thank you so much, Governor, for what you're doing and what you're fighting for.