{"id":26867,"date":"2026-01-06T16:47:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T22:47:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=26867"},"modified":"2026-01-06T18:29:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T00:29:00","slug":"illinois-house-speaker-calls-bears-stadium-ask-insensitive-amid-budget-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/26867-illinois-house-speaker-calls-bears-stadium-ask-insensitive-amid-budget-pressure\/","title":{"rendered":"Illinois House Speaker Calls Bears Stadium Ask &#8220;Insensitive&#8221; Amid Budget Pressure"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By BEN SZALINSKI<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Capitol News Illinois<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><a href=\"mailto:bszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">bszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Article Summary<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Illinois House Speaker Emanuel \u201cChris\u201d Welch said the Chicago Bears\u2019 request for new money for a stadium is \u201cinsensitive\u201d as lawmakers are trying to make life more affordable for Illinoisians.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The team is seeking more than $800 million in infrastructure money as well as property tax relief to build a new stadium in Arlington Heights.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bears President Kevin Warren threatened to pursue a stadium in Indiana if Illinois lawmakers don\u2019t lend a hand.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Welch said state lawmakers will be focused on cost-of-living issues when they return to Springfield later this month.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Illinois House Speaker Emanuel \u201cChris\u201d Welch said he is hopeful about the Chicago Bears\u2019 prospects of victory over the Green By Packers in their playoff game on Saturday.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But he likely didn\u2019t instill any hope in team officials who are seeking state resources to build a new stadium in Arlington Heights.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhen folks say what\u2019s your priority going into the legislative session, we\u2019re trying to bring down the cost of living,&#8221; Welch said at a City Club of Chicago event on Tuesday. \u201cTalking about a brand new Bears stadium when this one\u2019s not even 25 years old, that\u2019s insensitive to what real people are going through right now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Welch was addressing questions about the Bears\u2019 request for property tax breaks and more than $800 million in state support for infrastructure upgrades.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bears president Kevin Warren claimed in a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagobears.com\/news\/an-open-letter-from-president-ceo-kevin-warren-regarding-the-chicago-bears-stadium-project\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">letter to fans<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> last month that the team, which <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/teams\/chicago-bears\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Forbes<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> valued at $8.2 billion, was \u201ctold directly by State leadership, our project will not be a priority in 2026.\u201d Welch, a Democrat from west suburban Hillside, did not dispute the claim.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Bears\u2019 current home, Chicago Park District-owned Soldier Field, was rebuilt with state money in 2002. Warren and the Bears say their new project should be a priority for state lawmakers seeking to create jobs and build the state\u2019s economy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gov. JB Pritzker has said he is open to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/capitolnewsillinois.com\/news\/pritzker-talks-city-budget-bears-stadium-with-chicago-business-and-civic-leaders\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">allocating state funds for infrastructure upgrades<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to accommodate crowds near the former Arlington Park race course, the team-owned potential development site. But he\u2019s so far declined to support direct tax breaks or financial aid for team facilities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After being shafted by the General Assembly for several years, Warren threatened to explore building the stadium in northwest Indiana. That <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/GovBraun\/status\/2001465746283450655\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">excited<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Indiana Republican Gov. Mike Braun, who said he will work with the team.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some suburban Democrats support helping the Bears relocate to Arlington Heights, but the team faces a math problem in the legislature.\u00a0Twenty-eight\u00a0of\u00a0the 78 House\u00a0Democrats\u00a0live\u00a0in Chicago and\u00a0several\u00a0of them\u00a0have expressed opposition to\u00a0the team moving out of the city. Welch has adopted a rule for the House Democratic caucus\u00a0that at least 60 Democrats must support a bill to allow it to move forward.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, isn\u2019t prioritizing the Bears in the Senate either.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cPresident Harmon agrees that we need to stay focused on issues like education and health care and everyday affordability\u00a0\u2014\u00a0the things people care about\u00a0\u2014\u00a0especially given the economic uncertainties being thrown at us by Washington,\u201d Harmon spokesperson John Patterson said in an email.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Budget situation<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another hinderance for the Bears is the state budget. Pritzker told lawmakers last year during his annual budget address there was little room for new spending and any lawmaker that wanted money for a new program would have to come up with a corresponding cut.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The fiscal year 2026 budget ultimately increased spending in most areas by less than 1% from the previous year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">State lawmakers will return to Springfield next week to begin the spring legislative session, and the budget picture remains murky. The governor\u2019s budget office announced in the fall that the state was on track to run a $2.2 billion in fiscal year 2027, which begins on July 1.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Read more: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/capitolnewsillinois.com\/news\/illinois-budget-on-track-for-deficit-as-new-federal-policies-create-challenges\/\"><b>Illinois\u2019 budget on track for deficit as new federal policies create challenges<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Amid that landscape, Welch said members of his caucus are not hearing from their constituents about the Bears.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThey\u2019re hearing people talk about the cost of prescription drugs, about premiums of their health insurance going up, grocery prices, rent; they\u2019re talking about cost of living,\u201d Welch said. \u201cI don\u2019t know anyone that has knocked on a door and someone has said anything about the Chicago Bears.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No state leader, including Welch on Tuesday, has explicitly ruled out addressing the Bears\u2019 concerns this year. But the speaker, who is entering his sixth year leading the House, said this session will be all about \u201caffordability.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other lawmakers who have chastised the Bears for seeking public money said the state should have other priorities such as increasing funding for public education and social services.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>New budget report<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While there\u2019s still six months to go in the fiscal year, a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cgfa.ilga.gov\/Upload\/1225%20Monthly.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">report<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> published Tuesday by the independent Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability painted a rosier picture of state finances, at least in the short-term. It found state revenue is up nearly 5%, or $1.2 billion, through the first six months of FY26 compared to the same period in FY25.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That includes sales tax revenue up 1%, an indicator of consumer confidence in the economy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pritzker is scheduled to present his FY27 budget proposal on Feb. 18, which will include new estimates from his office about revenue projects for the current year and a plan to close next year\u2019s projected deficit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/capitolnewsillinois.com\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Capitol News Illinois<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By BEN SZALINSKI Capitol News Illinois bszalinski@capitolnewsillinois.com Article Summary Illinois House Speaker Emanuel \u201cChris\u201d Welch said the Chicago Bears\u2019 request for new money for a stadium is \u201cinsensitive\u201d as lawmakers [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":26869,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Illinois House Speaker Calls Bears Stadium Ask &quot;Insensitive&quot; Amid Budget Pressure - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/local-news\/26867-illinois-house-speaker-calls-bears-stadium-ask-insensitive-amid-budget-pressure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Illinois House Speaker Calls Bears Stadium Ask &quot;Insensitive&quot; 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