Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed 2026 budget fails to confront Chicago’s deep structural financial crisis.

Blaming President Donald Trump’s budget cuts for Chicago’s meltdown is political theater. The city’s chronic deficits are homegrown and fueled by reckless borrowing, bloated pensions and decades of unchecked spending.

Last year, the City Council demonstrated that it could challenge the mayor’s fiscal agenda. It must do so again. Chicago doesn’t have a revenue problem; it has a spending problem. And there is a clear path toward fiscal sanity.

The one clear winner in the budget plan is Chicago Public Schools, which stands to gain a staggering $522 million from tax increment financing districts. The City Council must restore fiscal independence by ending Chicago’s role as a perpetua

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