01.25.12

Durbin Meets with Quad Cities Officials to Discuss Rock Island Arsenal and Other Priorities

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today met with officials from the Quad Cities area to discuss their priorities for Rock Island Arsenal and the region.  Participants in today’s meeting included: Rock Island County Board Chairman, Jim Bohnsack and Moline Mayor Dan Welvaert.

 

“The Quad Cities region has a great history of coming together to build the economy of the entire region,” said Durbin.  “Meeting with local leaders like Chairman Bohnsack and Mayor Welvaert we can produce a coordinated strategy to better promote Rock Island Arsenal and spur economic development in the region.”

 

Durbin worked closely with six other members of the bipartisan Illinois / Iowa Congressional Delegation to give the Rock Island Arsenal the tools necessary to maintain and improve their workload.  Specifically, they secured an unlimited number of public-private partnerships for the Arsenal and the opportunity for the Arsenal to be designated as a Center of Industrial and Technical Excellence which will permit the Army to automatically assign work to Rock Island based on their expertise.

 

Late last year, in a meeting with the Assistant Secretary of the Army, Tom Lamont, Durbin secured confirmation that nine firefighter and emergency medical positions would be preserved at Rock Island Arsenal.  According to Lamont, the cuts were mistakenly included in announcement of reductions to the civilian personnel workforce at Rock Island Arsenal and Army facilities nationwide. 

 

In addition to his work on Rock Island Arsenal, Durbin helped secure a $230 million federal grant to bring Amtrak service from Chicago to the Quad Cities and on to Iowa.  The line will create nearly 600 jobs per year in the first four years of design and construction and will make two daily roundtrips.