February 25, 2017

Duckworth Hosts Infrastructure Roundtable in Quincy

 

QUINCY, IL - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) held a roundtable today with local leaders in Quincy, Illinois, to discuss the importance of rebuilding and modernizing Illinois's infrastructure to create jobs, protect children from lead contamination and improve transportation systems statewide. Duckworth, who serves the Environment and Public Works Committee and the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, also highlighted her goals to support infrastructure projects in Quincy and all across the state to grow our economy. A photo of today's roundtable is available here.

"Improving Illinois's infrastructure is one of the most important things we can do for our state - it's important for our working families, our transportation systems and our economy at large,"said Senator Duckworth."It's about time we made a serious investment in our nation's interstate highway system and other projects like the Mid-America Intermodal Port and our locks and dams to create good-paying jobs and bolster Illinois's status as a world-class air, road, rail and water transportation hub."

Senator Duckworth has made improving Illinois's infrastructure a top priority and a key tenet of her economic development plan. As a member of the House of Representatives, she worked to secure federal funding to improve highways and bridges, creating thousands of jobs.

"We also have a moral obligation to make sure our children's drinking water is clean and safe, which means tearing out and replacing dangerous lead service lines that have poisoned far too many children,"Senator Duckworth continued."Lead contamination is a very serious issue for families across the country, I'm pleased I could meet with local leaders in Quincy today to discuss how we address these issues and others as I continue to advocate for policies to rebuild Illinois's infrastructure statewide."

Last year, Duckworth introduced a comprehensive legislative approach to address the nationwide contaminated drinking water crisis, including theCopper and Lead Evaluation, Assessment and Reporting (CLEAR) Act of 2016 and the Get the Lead Out Act. These bills would have improved water testing to keep potential contaminants like lead and copper out of public water supplies and provided resources to help communities remove contaminants that may already be present.

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