Mayor Brandon Johnson defended his 2026 budget proposal Thursday following a rating agency lowering its outlook on the city this week, which signaled a potential future credit downgrade to one notch above junk status.

And he addressed budget cuts he wants to make in 2026 at Chicago libraries, which have drawn criticism.

Speaking to reporters at City Hall, the mayor responded to S&P Global Ratings dropping Chicago from stable to negative the previous day by arguing his $16.6 billion spending plan for next year is in fact “very sound” despite scaling back an advance pension payment. S&P already knocked Chicago down to two notches about junk status in January following the mayor’s 2025 budget.

“I know that there have been questions around pensions, and when the executive order was put

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