Illinois Congressional Democrats plot ways to blunt policies after Trump takes office

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

66% : Congressional Republicans hope to pass what Trump has called "one big, beautiful bill" in the early days of his administration that could include a wide swath of policy changes, from extending the 2017 tax cuts to energy policy to building a border wall.
64% : Republicans failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act, one of President Barack Obama's signature accomplishments.
61% : Trump enters his second term with more experience managing the federal bureaucracy and with appointees seemingly more prized for their loyalty than their expertise.
61% : It would also let state attorneys general sue the federal government for not adequately enforcing immigration laws.
57% : "When you have unified government, we would typically expect that the majority party has the most incentives to engage in governing," she said.
55% : One potential area for compromise could be raising the cap on the tax deductions for state and local taxes.
54% : First, when Trump entered the White House in 2017 there were still a few Republican members of Congress from the Chicago area: U.S. Reps. Peter Roskam and Randy Hultgren held seats in the western suburbs, and Adam Kinzinger's district included far reaches of the metro area.
54% : To pay for their tax cut package, Republicans in 2017 limited how much taxpayers who itemize their tax deductions could write off for the "SALT deduction."
54% : The move largely affected people in higher-tax jurisdictions, including many cities and suburbs in Illinois.
52% : "On the other hand, the incentives for Republicans to work together will be greater once the party controls the presidency and both chambers of Congress, said Laurel Harbridge-Yong, a Northwestern University political science professor who has studied political polarization.
51% : "Chicago is a sanctuary city, and Illinois is an inclusive state for immigrants," Garcia said, referring to the city's policy of not asking residents about their immigration status and not cooperating with federal immigration enforcement actions in most cases.
50% : "U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who largely represents the northwest suburbs, said he recently had a doctoral recipient ask him about the possibility that Trump could end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program that allows undocumented people brought to the United States as children to remain in the country and receive work authorization.
47% : An outside effort by the Heritage Foundation to provide a blueprint for conservative governance -- known widely as Project 2025 -- could offer direction for the new administration, especially because one of the document's main authors will likely lead the powerful Office of Management and Budget under Trump.
47% : The Laken Riley Act would require federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement to take custody of immigrants in the country without legal permission who have been arrested for theft-related crimes.
45% : The moves over the SALT deduction were led by Roskam, who chaired the House Ways and Means subcommittee on tax policy, despite representing a wealthy west suburban district with large property tax bills.
41% : Though Republicans now control the U.S. House and Senate, the margins are especially tight in the House, where the GOP majority is as small as 217-215 as three seats formerly held by Trump nominees remain vacant.
39% : And much of Trump's larger agenda -- from launching trade wars, pulling back federal support for electric vehicles or eschewing scientific research -- could affect Illinois residents and the state's economy.
39% : "Let them try to cut Social Security and in the meantime give a big tax cut to the wealthiest Americans.
38% : "Outside of Congress, Trump tried to impose immigration restrictions that critics called a "Muslim ban," which were tied up in court for years.
38% : The days of all-Republican control of Washington under Trump were tumultuous, but the long-term consequences were not as far-reaching as critics feared at the time, said Christopher Berry, a University of Chicago public policy professor and director of the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation.
33% : Chicago-area lawmakers also plan to enlist business allies in their fight against higher tariffs and immigration raids and promote bipartisan proposals while Trump pursues a more polarizing agenda.
31% : One week before Donald Trump moves back into the White House, the Democrats representing the Chicago area in Congress are strategizing ways to limit the scope of the Republican president-elect's plans.
29% : "Somehow Trump was able to convince the citizens of South Dakota or North Dakota or wherever that immigrants are wrecking their communities, whereas, in fact, they're the lifeblood of a lot of areas, like Aurora or the Chicago metro area.
29% : "Durbin said he "dismissed" Homan's promise to start deportations in Chicago as "fiery campaign rhetoric," and that he hoped Trump would work on a solution for DACA recipients, as the incoming president suggested he would do on a December appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press."
27% : "If the Republicans truly want to do their tax cuts -- and they don't want to do things like cut Social Security -- they're going to have to raise the debt limit," Foster said.
26% : "There's definitely going to be a lot of pushback (from Illinois officials), and it'll be obvious what Trump is doing: He wants to punish certain blue states.
26% : And nobody's taking GOP unity for granted these days, especially after conservative lawmakers nearly blocked the election of Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson as speaker of the House in early January and rebuffed Trump over limits on U.S. government debt in December.
22% : "Trump has not been kind in his descriptions of Chicago," said U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, who represents parts of Chicago and many northern suburbs.
21% : Trump and his GOP allies have signaled that they would quickly target Illinois and other Democratic bastions once Trump assumes the presidency and as Republicans now control both chambers of Congress.

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