Pritzker criticizes Trump over federal budget, vaccine policy and new Tylenol stance

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker took two positions this week that directly contrast with the Trump administration’s standings on vaccinations and budgeting.

On Tuesday, Pritzker signed an executive order that directed all state agencies to prepare to cut 4% of their budgets and begin building their reserves in response to what he called "disastrous" policies put forward by Trump.

Pritzker told reporters this week it was the beginning of dealing with what he said could be "a very severe challenge for the state budget this year."

“There are hundreds of millions of dollars that are going to have to be made up for as a result of the cuts the federal government is making, including in health care and nutritional assistance, but also across the economy with the tariffs that are impacting businesses in Illinois,” Pritzker told reporters this week, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The State Board of Education and the state’s pension systems do not have to identify budget cuts, according to Capitol News Illinois.

Illinois, Pritzker split from federal government on vaccinations

The Illinois Department of Public Health split from the federal government this week and issued its own guidance on vaccinations following the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s new policies that limited who can access certain vaccinations.

Pritzker took a shot at the federal government for its new vaccination policies.

"At a time when the federal government is abdicating its responsibility to provide clear, science-informed guidance, Illinois is stepping up,” Pritzker said in a statement. “Illinois will continue to empower providers and families across our state with the information and access they need to guard against illness and disease.” 

More: Illinois issues its own vaccine guidelines for COVID, flu. Here’s what to know

The IDPH also voiced criticism of the federal government’s new vaccine policies that were championed by Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

"These actions are necessary because the federal government is no longer following its rigorous scientific review processes for vaccine-related decisions," IDPH said in a statement. "The CDC’s gold-standard practices, followed for decades, have prevented serious illness and saved millions of lives nationwide."

In other health adjacent news, Pritzker also criticized the federal governments new stance that ties the use of Tylenol while pregnant to autism, a finding that some health experts, including those at the IDPH, have disputed.

"I honestly think that there is something wrong with the President that he not only doesn’t understand the science, but apparently can’t pronounce the words and doesn’t really do any reading," Pritzker said of it this week. "Because there’s 30 years of science around the question of whether acetaminophen – that’s how you pronounce it – is, in fact, bad for women to take or pregnant women to take, and they should listen to their doctors, but go talk to your doctor and ask them if they think that Donald Trump and RFK Jr. are actually issuing health orders that make sense for the country."

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