East Central Reporter

State Rep. Chris Miller (R-Oakland), chairman of the Illinois Freedom Caucus, led a press conference on Tuesday, May 13, sounding the alarm over more than $1 billion in taxpayer-funded grants to politically connected non-governmental organizations (NGOs). 

Miller represents House District 101, which includes parts of Coles, Douglas, Champaign, Ford and Vermilion counties.

He warned of a bloated budget and a lack of transparency in the legislative process. 

"We're 18 days away from adjournment and likely to vote on the largest voted budget in the history of Illinois at $55 billion plus,” Miller said. “That's approximately 40% higher than it was six years ago, when Governor Pritzker came into office. Another little fun fact: it’s far above even the rate of inflation."

Miller accused state leaders of reckless spending, lack of transparency and prioritizing political allies over Illinois families, while calling for sweeping fiscal reforms and a full audit of major state programs.

"Right now, we have no idea what's in the budget, and even most of the Democrats don't even know what's in the budget,” he said. “If history repeats itself, which we can expect that history will repeat itself, there will be more taxpayer abuse, more 'spendocrats' spending out of control money. As usual, the budget has been drafted in secret. It will be dumped on the last day of session, most likely in the middle of the night. No time to review. And what we can expect is there will be more taxes, more borrowing, more spending, more regulation."

Miller and the other GOP representatives called for sweeping fiscal reforms, a full audit of major spending programs and a shift in state priorities to restore transparency and accountability.

The Illinois DOGE series—a joint effort by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), Breakthrough Ideas and others—has exposed over $1 billion in state grants funneled to NGOs, many of which are engaged in overt political advocacy and offer limited transparency or accountability. 

Miller and his colleagues argued that these funds often duplicate public services or serve narrow interests. 

"Today we're here to identify programs and projects that have wasted over $1 billion dollars and that's the reason why Illinois DOGE has been created," Miller said.

Investigators warn that these expenditures reflect deep politicization of taxpayer dollars, with ideologically aligned groups benefiting from state funds while operating outside the scrutiny applied to public agencies. These include organizations with vague missions, little oversight and overt political agendas. 

Among the most notable is the Indo-American Center, which received over $25 million in just two years while conducting voter registration efforts for immigrants regardless of legal status—an activity critics argue conflicts with federal law. 

ONE Northside, awarded $1.25 million, is a progressive activist group that organizes protests and school-based political actions, yet provides no direct services. 

The Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which received $11.4 million since 2020, actively lobbies for expanded DEI policies and assists undocumented business owners in avoiding deportation, despite collecting just $157,000 in member dues last year. Other recipients include Centro de Trabajadores Unidos, which advises businesses on evading ICE enforcement and received $7 million in grants, and the Black Researchers Collective, which promotes reparations and prison releases while ridiculing traditional research methods, all while its leaders earn six-figure salaries. 

Additional funding includes $1.5 million to the Chicago Therapy Collective for LGBTQ advocacy under “violence prevention” classifications, and $750,000 to TMH Mancave, a little-known group tied to a private therapy practice. 

In total, $73 million is going to local chambers and development nonprofits, while $237 million is earmarked for racial, ethnic, and religious organizations—many of which receive multiple grants hidden across different sections of the budget. 

He called for urgent structural reform, including greater oversight and independent audits. 

"We need a full audit of the big ticket items, especially Medicaid, education, child care, preschools, to make sure that the people who are receiving this money actually qualify,” Miller said. “And one thing that we do know is that we've seen at the federal level that the deeper we dig, the uglier it all gets."

Miller also framed the issue as a broader failure of leadership and direction in the state. 

"Alright, thank you guys. I do have one thing I want to add to this: we’ve talked a lot about priorities and one of the things that—nothing’s going to change here in Illinois until we get the political courage to actually do something about it, put our so-called money where our mouth is,” Miller said. “But right now all we do is lie, deflect, massage, manipulate the numbers, manipulate the story."

Miller argued that reversing Illinois’ decline requires more than just fiscal reform—it demands a fundamental shift in priorities and long-term vision for the state.

"Illinois has a vision problem because we need to compete to be number one,” Miller said. “We need to look at the drivers that are driving people out of our state to Tennessee, Texas, and Florida, and we need to adopt some of the same policies that they're adopting to bring people back to our state—to lower the tax rate, to lower the corporate tax rate, to make sure real estate taxes are reasonable, that all of our fees and services are reasonable, in line with these other places that are stealing our citizens away from us."

Miller emphasized the need to prioritize Illinoisans over political interests. 

"We need to orchestrate a real change in our vision and what we're trying to accomplish,” he said. “We put Illinois citizens first, we put Illinois businesses first, we put the Illinois families first, and guess what? Voila, you're going to see massive structural changes in the state of Illinois and the way we do business."

The press conference included further remarks from Reps. Jed Davis, Brad Halbrook, Blaine Wilhour, Martin McLaughlin and Adam Niemerg. 

The lawmakers also announced forthcoming proposals, including an alternative state budget and interactive tools to help the public track government spending.

Illinois residents are encouraged to report suspected waste or abuse through the Breakthrough Ideas tipline.