In The Press

CHICAGO – Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and state Rep. Lilian Jimenez brought together small business owners, service providers, and civic organizations to discuss the challenges employers and communities are facing due to Donald Trump’s unconstitutional raids. The roundtable discussion at Rincon Family Services was part of Welch’s statewide listening tour, which has included stops in the city of Chicago, downstate, and throughout the suburbs.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Speaker Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch honored the life and work of Rev. Jesse Jackson on the House Floor Tuesday, hours after news of the Civil Rights icon’s passing that morning.

CHICAGO – House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch joined Rep. Kam Buckner for an affordability town hall with seniors, a barbershop conversation, a small business roundtable, and a tour Black History Month tour of Bronzeville landmarks, continuing Welch’s statewide listening tour.

WESTCHESTER, Ill. – A full house of more than 100 community members joined Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and Rep. Norma Hernandez for a town hall meeting Wednesday evening to share their thoughts and discuss efforts to help families make ends meet and put a check on Washington’s extreme agenda. 

CHICAGO – House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch joined Illinois nurses and advocates this week at a rally honoring the memory of Alex Pretti, a Veterans Affairs nurse executed by Donald Trump’s agents while he was working to protect his neighbors in Minnesota last weekend.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and House Democrats spoke out about the illegal and corrupt actions pushed by the Trump Administration this week, passing official condemnations of Trump’s reckless tariffs and misguided foreign policy, drastic cuts to child care and familial lifelines, and the deadly immigration force employed by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that has killed close to 50 individuals, including U.S. citizens. Meanwhile House Republicans opposed these efforts, choosing yet again to stand only with Trump.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch is recognizing five years of leadership in the House this week, and the transformational changes delivered in that time. Since assuming leadership on January 13, 2020, Welch has dedicated his tenure to advancing an agenda focused on economic opportunity, healthcare expansion, education reform, and fairness for all Illinois residents.

CHICAGO – House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch shared a vision for preserving and strengthening our democracy and creating new opportunity at an address to the City Club of Chicago this week.

CHICAGO – Buses and trains will be safer, more reliable, and more efficiently managed under a major transit reform law passed by Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and House Democrats.

WESTCHESTER, Ill. – Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and House Democrats are standing up to Trump’s unconstitutional raids and blatant racial profiling by enacting a new law to protect people’s due process rights and secure places everyone should feel safe, like hospitals, daycare centers, and courthouses. 

WESTCHESTER, Ill. – An independent, bipartisan analysis has named House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch as one of the most effective lawmakers in Illinois. Welch topped the Center for Effective Lawmaking’s rankings after a year focused on affordability, opportunity, and counteracting the chaos coming from Washington.

WESTCHESTER, Ill. – House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and state Sen. Kimberly Lightford are helping hundreds of local families put a Thanksgiving dinner on the table by hosting a Drive Through Turkey and Ham Giveaway on Monday, Nov. 24 at 10 a.m. outside Welch’s constituent service office at 10055 Roosevelt Road in Westchester.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and House Democrats delivered transformational “clean slate” justice reforms, expanding opportunity for employment, housing, and education by creating an automatic sealing process for thousands of non-violent arrest records. 

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch is delivering relief from rising energy costs, passing comprehensive legislation that seeks to bring down home energy bills both immediately and in the long term.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch’s smart budget tools are delivering $20 million in new funding for local food banks, shoring up this critical safety net as Donald Trump denies Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for almost 2 million Illinoisans.

WESTCHESTER, Ill. – House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch is hearing directly from community members on the topics that matter most to them at a series of conversations at barbershops, giving people a chance to share their thoughts on affordability, on the situation in Washington, on economic opportunity, and more—all while they get their hair cut.

WESTCHESTER, Ill. – The Trump Administration has removed their illegal fence blocking Beach Street in Broadview after House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson, and dozens of local leaders rallied outside of the Broadview ICE facility this week, demanding Trump abide by court orders and remove the blockade.

WESTCHESTER, Ill. – House Speaker Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch is working to support communities being impacted by the federal deployment of masked and heavily armed troopers by calling out hostile and violent tactics deployed against the majority Black community of Broadview and supporting a Hispanic Heritage Month event in West Chicago—a community on edge as a result of recent ICE raids.

WESTCHESTER, Ill. – House Speaker Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch is working to help modest-income families and older adults facing rising utility bills by backing legislation to expand eligibility for the state’s home energy assistance program, and encouraging residents to apply for relief beginning October 1.

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – House Speaker Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch brought his statewide listening tour in Central Illinois this week, joining Rep. Sharon Chung and Bloomington-Normal residents for discussions about equitable higher education funding, enhanced public transit for every Illinois community, and secure retirement benefits for educators and others who serve the public. 

NORTH UTICA, Ill. – House Speaker Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch joined first-term Rep. Amy ‘Murri’ Briel for a town hall meeting in her Illinois River Valley community this week, giving residents the opportunity to share their thoughts on the cost of living, energy, and the effects of Washington’s service cuts and high tariffs. The town hall meeting was one of the first stops in a tour visiting colleagues’ districts and hearing from people across the state ahead of the fall legislative session.

WESTCHESTER, Ill. – Speaker Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch is calling out the Trump administration’s latest effort to undermine senior care and workers’ rights, joining state labor leaders who have filed formal opposition to a new proposal in Washington to slash wages for home-healthcare workers. 

MAYWOOD, Ill. – House Speaker Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch joined Black Men United to celebrate the opening of two dozen fully renovated affordable housing units in Maywood Wednesday, supported by state dollars secured in Welch’s fiscally and socially responsible state budgets.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – A new law passed by Speaker Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch and House Democrats will end the practice of ticketing and fining students for basic school disciplinary matters, bringing crucial reform to a system that unnecessarily exposed young people to system involvement and disparately impacted students of color.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Law enforcement agencies will be better equipped to vet potential officers and make independent, merit-based employment decisions under a new law backed by Speaker Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch and House Democrats, improving police hiring practices following the recent killing of an innocent woman in the Springfield area by an officer with a serious record of misconduct.

WESTCHESTER, Ill. – House Speaker Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch helped local families prepare for a new school year and save money at his 13th Annual Back-to-School Health Fair, distributing free backpacks loaded with supplies, connecting students with health screenings, and providing a day of family fun.

CHICAGO – House Speaker Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch honored the extraordinary service of former Secretary of State Jesse White, joining state Rep. Harry Benton, Gov. JB Pritzker, and other state leaders to officially rename the building at 115 S. LaSalle Street in Chicago as the Jesse White State of Illinois Building.

CHICAGO – House Speaker Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch welcomed religious leaders from across the country to Illinois this week, speaking with attendees of the Progressive National Baptist Convention about the important role faith communities play in advocating for healthcare, human rights, and economic empowerment.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Local students will have greater opportunity to earn a college degree under a new law backed by Speaker Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch and House Democrats, creating a new direct admissions program to help qualified young people earn automatic entry into state schools.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Speaker Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch and House Democrats are continuing efforts to protect reproductive freedom in Illinois as the state marks three years since the United States Supreme Court stripped the right to choose from tens of millions of women across the country. Working ahead to stop the Trump Administration’s latest assault on women’s health and safety, Welch and his colleagues delivered new protections ensuring doctors and patients can still access potentially lifesaving reproductive health medications—regardless of what extremists in Washington do.