PEORIA, Ill. – Peoria’s representatives in Congress — one Democrat and one Republican — are celebrating a bipartisan victory that benefits the Peoria International Airport.
Congressmen Cheri Bustos (D-East Moline) and Darin LaHood (R-Dunlap) went to the airport Friday to tout the $15 million they were able to obtain through what she calls a workaround in the federal infrastructure bill that will go toward a new air traffic control tower.
“When the existing laws don’t match up with what needs to be done at a local level, you figure out what does need to be done,”
(Will Stevenson/1470 & 100.3 WMBD)
said Bustos. “In this case, we wrote language in with the help of Senator (Dick) Durbin and Senator (Tammy) Duckworth. We got that through, we got this signed into law, and there’s going to be a brand new air traffic control tower.”
LaHood admits there may not be things he likes about this infrastructure bill, but this isn’t one of them.
“Have I disagreed on some of the philosophical views on these larger bills? One hundred percent,” said LaHood. “But, when it comes to local projects, I think this last year, we advocated for roughly $15 million of construction project, infrastructure projects. I think almost all of those were fulfilled.”
The money is no longer being referred to as “Congressional earmarks” — rather, it’s now referred to in legislation as “community funding projects.”
While in Peoria, Bustos and LaHood also touted $4.5 million for the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, which will research things like sustainability and drought-resistant crops, according to Bustos — partially inspired by a recent trip to Africa and Senegal with a congressional delegation.
“They have countries around them knocking at their door where violent extreme organizations want to come in,” said Bustos. “If the people there are hungry or they can’t figure out how to make a living, those violent extreme organizations — that hate America — will go into these countries that now operate under a democracy.”
Bustos says it completely affected her feelings on both national security and agricultural sustainability, as well as the importance of aid to foreign countries.
LaHood says people still don’t know that there’s such a lab in Peoria, and the money will help make sure it’s known.
“My current district is the eighth largest ag district in the country in terms of corn and soybean production,” said LaHood. “We produce the best row crops anywhere in the world. This money is going to go to enhance that research, to figure out other ways that we can use the work that’s going on on row crops, for other inventions, other innovation, other creativity there.”
Bustos was in town as part of what she calls a “farewell tour” since she’s not running for reelection.
