Southern Illinois’ members of congress split on Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’
The House of Representatives have voted on and narrowly passed President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” on Thursday, guaranteeing its passage.
The 218-214 vote, mostly along party lines, sets the Trump administration’s domestic agenda into law. It makes Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent, but makes deep cuts to social programs that will have impact on southern Illinois and the metro-east.
Two senators who represent southern Illinois voted against the bill on Tuesday, though it cleared the Senate with Vice President JD Vance making a tie-breaking vote. Southern Illinois’ three representatives to Congress were divided.
All of them issued statements or commented on X (formerly Twitter), either before or immediately after casting their votes. Here’s what local members of Congress had to say:
U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, R-District-12: Yes
“That’s why I voted for the President Trump-backed One Big Beautiful Bill Act. This is a conservative plan that delivers real tax relief, reins in federal spending, and puts working families first,” Bost said in a press release.
“It provides funding to finish the border wall and hire thousands of new Border Patrol agents,” Bost said. “It strengthens work requirements for healthy, working age SNAP and Medicaid beneficiaries to ensure benefits are preserved for those who truly need them, and it empowers families to keep more of what they earn.”
U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-District-13: No
“From the very beginning, I have been clear about how devastating this bill is for our country — for single mothers relying on SNAP, for children dependent on Medicaid, and for everyone except the ultra-wealthy,” Budzinski said in a Thursday press release. “It’s the working class who deserve tax relief — not billionaires.
“Democrats fought tirelessly to block this bill, but not enough Republicans were willing to defend their communities from these cuts. I will continue standing firm to protect my district and the American people as this administration turns its back on them,” Budzinski said.
U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, R-District-15: Yes
“It delivers on President Trump’s America First agenda with bold, decisive, and immediate action,” Miller said. “This is the most pro-worker, pro-family, pro-America legislation I have voted for during my time in Congress, and I was proud to help get it across the finish line for the hardworking Americans across my district.”
U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth, D-Springfield: No
“More than half a million Illinoisans will lose health coverage and hospitals, health clinics and nursing homes across the country will shut down,” Duckworth said. “Adding insult to injury, the legion of middle-class and working-class Americans who lose their livelihoods will be unable to receive safety net support precisely because of the Republicans who voted for this awful legislation that killed their jobs.
“There is nothing beautiful about this catastrophe of a bill—it is fiscally and morally irresponsible.”
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, D-Springfield: No
“Republicans are abandoning American families to give tax breaks to billionaires. There’s nothing ‘beautiful’ about slashing health care coverage for 17 million Americans, closing rural hospitals, and taking food off the table for children, seniors, and veterans.”
