Looking at Florida and Illinois, it shows how Congress responds to the Trump administration in the country’s often polarized national politics. The state retains a lot of power over what is done.
Ayesha Rascoe, host:
For weeks, the news has been dominated by President Donald Trump’s executive order and the major changes he is trying to make, but there are many changes that the president can’t do at the federal level. On many issues, President Trump needs the help of state governments to enact change. And we’ll look at two states with two different approaches: Florida and Illinois. Larry Kaplow of NPR, editor of the State State team, is here to get us started. Hello, Larry.
Larry Capro, Signature: Hello, ayesha.
Rascoe: So, what role does the nation play in supporting or obstructing the president’s agenda?
Kaplow: That’s right. Well, state power has really been burned into the US Constitution from the start, and we see how they exercise those powers now. Call for Trump’s massive deportation. There are not enough federal agents to run them in the number he wants. They need help from the sheriff and police department, but the federal government cannot order it to local law enforcement. But state governments and governors can pass laws that force local law enforcement to help detention, immigration enforcement, and more, and pass laws that prohibit cities, and prohibit local law enforcement from limiting what they can do to help federal agents. They also see democratic states protecting urban sanctuary laws passing the law. I would point out that most state legislatures are administered by one party and they are heading in those different directions.
Rascoe: And we now start from several states, from member station WBEZ, Illinois Mawa Iqbal.
Mawa Iqbal, Signed: In Illinois, lawmakers were not embarrassed about their tragedy towards President Donald Trump. In a budget speech last month, Democratic governor JB Pritzker compared Trump’s recent executive order to the end of German democracy before the war.
(Sound bites of archived recordings)
JB Pritzker: The species that grew into a European dictatorship for a lifetime ago did not arrive in one night. It started with everyday Germans getting mad at inflation and looking for someone responsible. I’m now watching with foreshadowing fears of what’s going on in our country.
IQBAL: In Congress, Democrats have passed a resolution denounced the Trump White House for rewinding DEI measures and forgiving people related to the January 6th riots. Republicans stepped out of one raucous session, and Democrat House Speaker Chris Welch blows them up.
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Chris Welch: They should be here to oppose fascism. You cannot be silent. We have to stand up. Please talk. Please speak up.
IQBAL: The resolution is symbolic, but Democrats plan to spend more money on education initiatives despite Trump threatening to cut federal funds. They are trying to strengthen sanctuary policies and fund healthcare programs for adults and seniors who have no legal status in the United States
Stephen Schwin is a constitutional law professor at the University of Illinois, University of Chicago, and says these are areas where the state can truly assert itself.
Stephen Schwinn: Protecting state law and state constitutional rights, as Illinois did, is the right move for legislators and public servants opposed to Trump’s policies.
Iqbal: Trump has lost more than 11 percent points on Illinois, and Democrats have a huge majority in Congress. This contrasts with more evenly divided states nearby, like Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan. Lawmakers and governors were more cautious about taking on Trump’s policies. In Illinois, Republicans are in a very minority, and they say the state’s budget is already heading towards a $3 billion deficit due to democratic spending. The state’s signature Brain Willhall called for their DEI initiative in the Marxist ideology of schools.
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Blaine Wilhour: It was a fuel auxiliary division, punishing excellence and undermining the school. And now, the people in charge of our education system – unelected bureaucrats – think they can ignore this directive. They believe they can do whatever they want to do. I understand. President Trump’s paging, we have problems in Illinois.
IQBAL: And now we look to our colleague Regan McCarthy at the Capitolville in Tallahassee.
(Crosstalk)
Regan McCarthy, byline: A busy legislative meeting is being held here. There, it is not too far from the waters where the state’s Republican lawmakers are no longer known as the Gulf of Mexico.
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Joe Gruters: Name has been changed. It’s now the US Gulf.
McCarthy: Republican state Sen. Joe Gluters is behind a bill that would line up Florida with executive orders from the Trump administration by renaming the Gulf with state law and future materials purchased by schools.
Gruter: Listen, we want our kids to have all the right names to move forward, so this is just a way to do it.
McCarthy: That’s just one of the bills that Florida Republican-controlled legislatures have recently nurtured. As a political player, he jokes to show his support and loyalty to President Donald Trump and his administration’s agenda. There are also steps to open up how Trump will build presidential libraries in the state. Another bill would stop local governments from adding fluoride to public waters — previously pushed by Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Later, there has been a recent law in Florida cracking down on illegal immigration.
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Gruter: This bill has always been from the start, in order to work with President Trump and his executive orders to promote his agenda. At the end of the day, he deserves credit for all of this.
McCarthy: It’s once again a longtime supporter of Gluters, Trump – something that Republican Sen. Randy Fein will pay off in Florida.
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Randy Fine: Now, tonight I showed what loyalty to Donald Trump meant.
McCarthy: The Senator runs with the president’s support in a special election for a seat in Congress when Trump made then-ranked Mike Waltz his national security adviser. Fine issued a statement to his colleagues on the Senate floor shortly after winning the Republican primary for the seat. He is widely expected to decide on a special election in April.
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Fine: My reward for that loyalty is that I go to Congress.
McCarthy: Trump’s support is heavy in the state, but certainly not all Floridians.
(support)
McCarthy: Earlier this year, hundreds of people gathered at the Capitol to scream and wave to protest the president and his administration. Among them was Madalyn Propst, a 19-year-old Florida State student. She is opposed to the president’s recent executive order.
Madalyn Propst: Yeah, I hope he will be bounced each due to the unconstitutionality of his actions. But if I have to do this for four years then that’s it.
McCarthy: Democrats opposed the vast majority of Republicans in Florida, saying that time during the state’s 60-day session will be spent more on issues like surges in housing costs and property insurance fees.
Rascoe: It was Regan McCarthy of Mawa Iqbal at member stations WFSU and WBEZ. And Larry Capro, the NPR state team, is still with us. Two very different ends of the Larry, Florida and Illinois spectrum. Is that typical?
Kaplow: That’s true. In the South, there are others doing what Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Florida do. Like Illinois, on the democratic side, Connecticut, California, has taken a stubbornly different democratic approach. And, as we have heard, some people in these states speak for themselves, go to the Capitol and protest in the direction they want to see.
Rascoe: That’s Larry Kaplow from NPR. Thank you very much.
Capro: Thank you.
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