For quite a while now, most folks in politics have assumed that Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias and Comptroller Susana Mendoza will probably run for mayor of Chicago in 2027.

The U.S. House’s Energy and Commerce Committee released its recommendations for budget reconciliation. A preliminary review by the Congressional Budget Office projected that, if implemented, at least 8.6 million Americans would lose Medicaid coverage during the coming decade.

Needless to say, replacing an appropriations committee chair with barely two weeks to go in the spring session and tough budget votes ahead is not exactly commonplace. I’ve never seen such a thing in 35 years of doing this.

A top legislative budget negotiator last week said rank-and-file legislators will very soon have to come to terms with a state budget environment unlike anything many have ever seen before.

If Pritzker’s governance does start slipping because he’s running for higher office, I pledge to let my opinion be known. I will not stand for it. This state is far too important.

Gov. JB Pritzker said last week that the extreme uncertainty with the U.S. government and the international economy might mean that the legislature may have to reconvene to reconfigure the state budget after it adjourns at the end of next month.

You’ve probably read about the Republican Party’s implosion last week in suburban municipal and township campaigns, particularly in DuPage County.

The state imposes an additional sales tax in the Regional Transit Authority’s jurisdiction. Last week’s study found that expanding those specific RTA sales taxes to services could generate an additional $315 million a year.

State Rep. Marty Moylan, D-Des Plaines, chair of the House Transportation: Rail Systems, Roads & Bridges Committee, is heading into the transit funding discussions armed with an inch-and-a-half-thick binder filled with CTA salary data.