“We’re going to focus on things that help folks in their household budget. We’re going to focus on things that help create good jobs, wage growth and opportunity. We’re going to help our small businesses continue to grow and succeed.”

House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch gave Capitol News Illinois that quote ahead of his chamber’s return to Springfield this week, a handy summary for Democrats’ 2026 buzzword: affordability.

His counterpart, House Minority Leader Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, provided her own quote to CNI:

“When the Democrats say that their initiatives are for affordability of Illinois, that scares me because affordability means more revenue, which means more taxes.”

That’s not an instance of two sides looking at the same issue with different perspectives, as Welch himself said, “Our job as a state is to help people and to address a lot of the systemic issues that we have here in Illinois. We need revenue to address it.”

But the disparity also reminds us of the subjectivity of a term like affordability. Remove politicians from the conversation and just think of your neighborhood. We all need to eat, of course, but chances are good you know which house is the first to turn on the furnace or air conditioning as seasons change, which does their own yard work, whose kids go to public school and whose attend private, who washes their car in the driveway or changes their own oil.

Perhaps the guy across the street isn’t replacing his shingles because the project is affordable, but because he knows he truly can’t cover the much larger expense that comes when the roof deteriorates. What’s more “affordable,” a new used car with fixed monthly payments or riding out the last legs of the old minivan, hoping you don’t get stranded on the way to work or basketball practice?

Some things are worth paying for, writes the columnist who knows the current price of a pound of ground beef at a half dozen retailers but splurges on coffee beans every other week, and what checks those boxes is like beauty: always in the eye of the beholder.

As the session continues, I suspect we’ll find McCombie correct. Not just on the push to increase revenue, a bit like guessing the sun will rise in the East, but in her other prediction: the toughest votes will wait until January’s lame duck session.

In the meantime, it’s also a safe guess that most GOP lawmakers will be ready to spotlight any Democratic proposal and ask whether it meets the affordability standard. But because each party can define the concept to suit their own needs, it’s just as likely Democrats will lead with their version of the same message.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.