FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, April 18, 2017

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Chicago, IL —  Yesterday, JB Pritzker made stops in Springfield and Champaign to highlight his progressive agenda for Illinois families and discuss the need for a state budget and renewed focus on creating jobs.

JB first stopped in Springfield at the Illinois Coalition for Community Services to learn about how their summer lunch program has been reduced without a state budget.

Then, JB toured EnterpriseWorks and Research Park, a startup incubator and technology innovation campus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. JB has been a strong supporter of the startup community, founding 1871, a non-profit small business hub that helps small tech companies get started.

JB ended the evening with University of Illinois College Democrats, where he introduced himself and touted the need to create jobs for future generations.

From FOX Champaign:

From CBS Champaign:

From ABC Springfield:

From the State Journal-Register: 

J.B. Pritzker, a Democratic candidate for governor from Chicago, said in Springfield Monday that a progressive tax system is ultimately needed to pay for state services in Illinois.

“You’ve got to ask yourself this question: How are we going to pay for the things that we really want?” Pritzker told reporters at Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church. “And if you ask me, we’ve got to start by saying, before we ever get to raising taxes on the middle class, we’ve got to ask millionaires and billionaires, people who can afford to pay it, and that includes corporations, to step up to the plate.” …

Pritzker said Rauner is holding up the budget for “an agenda that has nothing to do with a budget,” and telling lawmakers, “If you give me this agenda, I’ll let you figure out how to get a budget. That’s not leadership.”

Pritzker was at the church because it is where the Illinois Coalition for Community Services has a summer lunch program for children. While the food is federally funded, a reduction in the coalition’s staff during the state budget impasse has dropped locations for that program from 70 across the state to seven, said Jason Gyure, executive director.

From the News-Gazette:

Pritzker also said he wanted to work to “make sure that people who are seeking to have a future in higher education have the ability to get it.”

“Tuition has gone way up in this state,” he said. “It’s become harder and harder for middle class families to put their kids through school. College is not affordable in this state when you don’t have (Monetary Award Program grants for low-income students) — and we don’t fund MAP grants.

“So we’ve got to step back up to the plate here, and we’ve got to make sure that people who are seeking to get a degree in higher education have the ability to get it.”

He hit Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner for two years of budget gridlock, including major budget cuts to higher education.

“Our universities are being decimated under this governor. The professors are leaving because they don’t know when the funding is going to be there next year for them to survive,” Pritzker said. “Students are choosing to leave the state because they can get more funding by going to another university, the University of Missouri or other places.

“We’ve got to make sure we can step up and have our kids and our professors stay in Illinois.”

From Illinois Public Media:

J.B. Pritzker brought his campaign for governor to the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana Monday. The billionaire venture capitalist is trying to establish himself as the progressive choice for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

Pritzker told about 40 students gathered by the Illini Democrats at a local pizza restaurant that he knew some had doubts about supporting another billionaire for governor, given their dislike for the current billionaire governor, Republican Bruce Rauner. Pritzker argues not all billionaires are alike.

“This election isn’t about money, it is about values,” said Pritzker. “It is about standing up for progressive values. It’s about standing up and saying that millionaires and billionaires ought to pay a higher rate of tax than people who make 20 and 30 and 50 and $50,000 a year.”

Pritzker referred to a graduated income tax, which he says should be part of any tax increase in Illinois.