Duckworth additions to National Defense Authorization Act to benefit Rock Island Arsenal

The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee approved the Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) last week and it now goes to the full Senate for consideration. Several provisions added by committee member Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) will benefit workers at the Rock Island Arsenal. Duckworth spoke with Our Quad Cities News via Zoom to explain how the bill helps the Arsenal.

“Overall, brave Illinoisans need to know, when they serve our nation at home and overseas, that our country fully supports them and their families and their sacrifices to defend this country,” she said. “I’m glad that we have quite a few provisions (in the bill). A lot of them have to do with protecting jobs at Rock Island Arsenal. It basically restricts the Army Secretary from using any funds to restructure unless the Army provides justification for restructuring. I’m really proud of the sustained workload bill, which establishes a five-year pilot project that requires the DOD (Department of Defense) to give preferences to partnership at the Arsenal. What that does, it’s a minimum workload because you want to continue to send work to the arsenals, even during peacetime, so that we maintain those skill sets and we maintain the workforce there. If we need to suddenly, like we did in Iraq, develop new variants for the Humvee or build Humvee ambulances, we actually have the capacity to do that at Rock Island. We haven’t shut down those particular production lines.”

There are more plans for the Arsenal than just keeping a steady workload, Duckworth said. “We’re able to secure $50 million for a new addition to the Rock Island Arsenal’s Child Development Center, which is going to be incredibly important for all the folks who work there. We have robotic enhancements for armaments, manufacturing and more improvements for an organic industrial base. A lot of it has to do with growing, protecting and sustaining the workforce and industrial base we have there.”

Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll recently visited the Arsenal, much to Duckworth’s delight. “Every chance I get, I have been pushing him to go. So I’m glad that he finally went, and I know that Congressman Sorensen was there as well. I want to make sure that he now has the clarity that he needs so that we can work together to support the Arsenal.”

“At first, they were saying they wanted to consolidate two different commands there at the Arsenal, the armaments command and the logistics command. They do two very different things; one of them builds munitions and the other one does logistics. How could you consolidate those commands? But I’m really pleased that he was there. We certainly want to make sure that he understands the jewel that Rock Island is and how important it is for our national security. So, we’ll be following up with him. We did some stuff in the NDAA that will force him to report back to us on what their plans are for the Arsenal.”

Duckworth says the goal in Washington is to pass the bill as soon as possible. “We’re probably going to be passing it here very quickly. I know that the plan is to pass it within the next couple of weeks, at least get it on the agenda by the end of this week or next week. That’ll be really important, to get it across the finish line. It was very bipartisan. It’s one of the few things that is still bipartisan here in Washington. I’m pleased that I was able to, with the majority’s consent, get a lot of my priorities to Illinois into the bill.”

• Print
• Tweet