State of Illinois Archives: on Welfare & Poverty
J.B. Pritzker:
Low minimum wage is sentence to poverty
Many of you asked me why I made passing a $15 minimum wage an immediate priority. The current minimum wage is $8.25 an hour--which means even if you are working full time every week out of the year, you are making $17,000 a year.
You can't send your kids to college on $17,000 a year. You can't afford a single health emergency. You can't sustain child care. And one paycheck is often the only firewall against homelessness. The current minimum wage is a lifetime sentence to poverty.
Source: 2019 State of the State address to the Illinois legislature
Feb 20, 2019
Jim Oberweis:
Tepid welfare reform is the best we can get right now
Doug Truax lashed out at state Sen. Jim Oberweis' "yes" vote on Tuesday's landmark pension reform bill. "Illinois is the worst run state in America due to a political class--largely Democrats--that consistently fails to put the interests of everyday
taxpayers first," Truax said in a statement. "My opponent, Jim Oberweis, knows this but voted anyway in favor of a tepid pension reform bill that is likely to result in further tax increases and a continued stagnant economy. Every other financial 'fix'
passed in Springfield the past decade has harmed taxpayers. Mr. Oberweis needs to explain why he so easily voted with the status quo that never solves problems but rather transfers them to the next generation."Oberweis voted in favor of the measure
that promises to ultimately save the state $160 billion. In his remarks from the Illinois Senate floor, Oberweis said the bill wasn't true reform--but it was the best that Illinois was going to get right now.
Source: Chicago Sun-Times on 2014 Illinois Senate race
Dec 4, 2013
Mark Curran:
Access to food is a right and Congress must safeguard it
Access to food is something all Americans should have. The physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food should be a focus for Members of Congress and United States Senators. Right here in Illinois, we have the land,
resources, and amazing farmers that help feed our nation. As your senator, I will ensure our farmers always have what they need to not only survive but to also ensure what they grow, raise, and produce helps feed Americans.
Source: ScienceDebate.org on 2020 Illinois Senate race
Nov 3, 2020
Mark Curran:
Access to food is a right and Congress must safeguard it
Access to food is something all Americans should have. The physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food should be a focus for Members of Congress and United States Senators. Right here in Illinois, we have the land,
resources, and amazing farmers that help feed our nation. As your senator, I will ensure our farmers always have what they need to not only survive but to also ensure what they grow, raise, and produce helps feed Americans.
Source: ScienceDebate.org on 2020 Illinois Senate race
Nov 3, 2020
Mike Bost:
Welfare funding to faith-based & private organizations
Bost indicates support of the following principles regarding welfare.- Maintain current time limits on welfare benefits.
- Maintain the requirement that able-bodied recipients work in order to receive benefits.
- Increase employment and job
training programs for welfare recipients.
- Provide tax incentives to businesses that hire welfare recipients.
- Provide child care for welfare recipients who work.
- Increase access to public transportation for welfare recipients who work.
-
Allow welfare recipients to remain eligible for benefits while saving money for education, starting a business, or buying a home.
- Limit benefits given to recipients if they have additional children while on welfare.
- Eliminate government-funded
welfare programs.
- Redirect welfare funding to faith-based and community-based private organizations.
- Use federal TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) funds to expand state services to include the working poor.
Source: 2000 Illinois National Political Awareness Test
Nov 1, 2000
Pat Quinn:
Maintain human services even during the Great Recession
We're using strategic borrowing where necessary, in order to get our state through a tough time. There was an effort last summer to cut human services in Illinois during this Great Recession, cut them in half. Now I didn't think that was right, and
I vetoed that budget. And we passed a different budget, one that does involve some borrowing in order to keep our human services going.What are these human services?
They are things like child care to make sure that working parents have a good place for their children to go to, during the day. Same way with our community care, to help our seniors stay in their home, so they don't have to go to a nursing home.
Same way with our persons with disabilities, for independent living. So we rejected the unwise efforts to cut the budget for those with disabilities. It's very important, even in a tough time, that we always retain our heart, our decency.
Source: Illinois 2010 State of the State Address
Jan 13, 2010
Pat Quinn:
Hardest Hit program: Keep 6,550 families in their homes
Four years ago, runaway bankers brought the Illinois economy to its knees.
These shady operators peddled risky mortgage loan products--costing far too many people their homes. We must protect our homeowners from this kind of fraud and abuse.
In our Illinois, we do not forget about our hardest hit families during their time of need. That's why we've helped 6,550 families in 92 counties stay in their homes through our Hardest Hit program.
And more than half a million families received counseling and other resources through the Illinois Foreclosure Prevention Network that I launched last year.
Source: 2013 State of the State speech to Illinois Legislature
Feb 6, 2013
Peggy Hubbard:
Refused to live on welfare, free of government dependency
Peggy's first marriage ended in divorce, after years of abuse, she became a single mother to her two small children.
Strongly committed to personal responsibility and living life on her terms, free of government dependency, Peggy refused to live on welfare and chose to work three jobs to support her young children.
Source: 2022 Illinois Senate website PeggyHubbardForSenate.com
Apr 19, 2022
Peggy Hubbard:
Help forgotten communities escape the government plantation
These forgotten communities, like those in Southside Chicago's Democrat Ghettos, bear the brunt of the federal government's failed policies--whether it's corralling the poor into housing projects, or working toward the decimation of the nuclear
family--it's time these forgotten communities escape the government plantation once and for all. I will work to create opportunities to break the chains off members of these communities, so they too can thrive and prosper.
Source: 2022 Illinois Senate website PeggyHubbardForSenate.com
Apr 19, 2022
Richard Durbin:
Educate farmers about federal programs that can help them
Q: What, if any, new action should the federal government take to increase food security?A: I supported new Farm Bill programs to expand local and regional systems that strengthen diversity (both economically and socially) of the farm sector, like
dedicated funding for the Local Agriculture Market Program (LAMP) and the new Office of Urban Agriculture. Better outreach, education, and training are imperative so more local farmers know and use these programs.
Source: ScienceDebate.org on 2020 Illinois Senate race
Nov 3, 2020
Rodney Davis:
Advocate privately funded assistance to people in need
Davis indicates support for the following principles regarding Illinois' welfare system.- Allow welfare recipients to work and still receive state-funded health care and child care (if needed) until they become self-sufficient.
- Require that
able-bodied welfare recipients receive job training, attend school, or work in order to receive welfare benefits.
- Require that unwed mothers under the age of 18 attend school and live with a parent or guardian (if possible) to receive benefits.
-
Limit the benefits given to welfare recipients if they have additional children.
- Eliminate government funded welfare and advocate privately funded assistance to people in need.
- Impose a two-year limit on welfare benefits for recipients who are
able to work.
- Require mothers age 18 and under to complete high school through mandatory "Learnfare" program.
- Continue "Earnfare" as a voluntary program in which food stamps recipients work to earn money and pay off food stamps.
Source: Illinois State 1996 National Political Awareness Test
Nov 1, 1996
Page last updated: Feb 07, 2026