Pritzker wants funds flowing for Great Lakes carp plan after Trump heaps praise on project he paused

Gov. JB Pritzker and Sen. Dick Durbin want President Donald Trump to put money where his mouth is on a massive project to help stop invasive carp from entering the Great Lakes — a project the Trump administration paused in December.

The president this week said “only Trump” can save the Great Lakes from invasive Asian carp and urged governors to “join in on the fight.” His post on Truth Social, which called it a “worthy cause,” came after a meeting with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. In his post, Trump cited the governors of Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York.

That social media commitment was surprising to Pritzker's office because the Trump administration in December issued an administrative review and paused the Brandon Road Interbasin Project, with no federal funds being delivered.

This prompted Pritzker on Friday to again demand the Trump administration release money for the project.

“The Great Lakes are a treasured international resource and the largest fresh water source in the world, and if the Trump administration does not deliver needed federal funds, then they are betraying every American that relies on this water,” Pritzker said in a written statement. “It is imperative that President Trump uphold his stated commitments to stop the invasive species threatening our Great Lakes and release the funds needed to resume construction on the Brandon Road Interbasin Project. Illinois has always done our part, and it is past time President Trump do his.”

Only Illinois and Michigan have directed resources to the project, but Pritzker's office said it "would welcome additional commitments from the full force of all eight Great Lake states."

The $1.15 billion project in the Des Plaines River near Joliet is seen as a vital way to stop invasive Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes. Without a barrier, the carp could wreak havoc on the $20 billion fishing and boating industries and upend the freshwater ecosystem, experts say.

The species already has made it into the Illinois River from the Mississippi River. Fishermen contracted by the state of Illinois have removed nearly 78 million pounds of invasive carp from waterways, according to Pritzker's office.

In addition to the Brandon Road project funding pause, three major federal grants to Illinois totaling $13.6 million for invasive carp removal are paused pending review by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

On the Senate floor Wednesday, Durbin called the carp issue “a serious threat to the future of the Great Lakes” and said Trump needs to get on board with the project as soon as possible.

“We have a new means, an effective means, to stop this fish from invading the Great Lakes," Durbin said. "We need the approval of President Trump to make that happen, Yesterday, he promised that he would be part of the solution. Today, I’m asking him to really step forward. Make a call today — not tomorrow — make a call today to the Army Corps of Engineers to tell them you’re lifting this Trump administration pause on the development of Brandon Road."

Last May, Trump also issued a memorandum to protect the Great Lakes from invasive carp species. The commitment came after Illinois officials demanded a pledge that the government would provide $225 million that was already appropriated by Congress. Illinois never received that money, despite his commitment.

In February 2025, the governor's office postponed a “property rights closing” on the project“based on the anticipated lack of federal funding for the project.” The governor’s office said the state would only move forward with funding once it received assurance from the federal government that federal funds are secure — and that the Trump administration wasn't going to try to tinker with their agreement. At that time, the Trump administration had already withheld $117 million in federal grants to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, which has forced the state to pause contracts and put nearly 70 infrastructure projects on hold.

The Asian carp dilemma made its way to "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" on Thursday night, with the show opening to a satire declaring, "Trump is waging war on a violent and destructive specifies of fish in the Great Lakes known as the Asian carp.

"Donald Trump has found the next threat to America, the Asian carp, which can only mean one thing: Operation Epic Fishy," a narrator said.