Tammy Duckworth

12/18/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 12/18/2025 13:47

Duckworth-Led Provisions to Protect Rock Island Arsenal, Support Illinois Quantum Technology Research and Safeguard Care for Veterans Passes Congress, Awaits President’s Signature

December 18, 2025

Duckworth-Led Provisions to Protect Rock Island Arsenal, Support Illinois Quantum Technology Research and Safeguard Care for Veterans Passes Congress, Awaits President's Signature

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - Combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), who served in the Reserve Forces for 23 years and is a member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), successfully secured several important provisions to support Illinoisans, servicemembers, Veterans and our state's economy that passed Congress this week and are heading to the President's desk to be signed into law. Some of the priorities Duckworth secured to help Illinoisans include protecting Rock Island Arsenal from any restructuring until the Army provides more information about their proposed plans, supporting research and development at the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park in Chicago and expanding access to vital health care services for our state's servicemembers, Veterans and military families.

"Throughout bipartisan negotiations, I'm proud to have helped lead the charge to secure several important provisions that will support our servicemembers and ensure Illinois's defense innovation ecosystem and Rock Island Arsenal are as strong as possible," said Senator Duckworth. "These critical provisions will help benefit our state by protecting operations at Rock Island Arsenal, protecting health care access for our military and Veteran families and supporting groundbreaking quantum computing research in Chicago."

Key Duckworth-led provisions set to be signed into law that will support Illinoisans include:

  • Supporting and Protecting Rock Island Arsenal Operations:
  • By Protecting Jobs: This provision limits funds available to the Secretary of the Army allocated for restructuring Joint Munitions Command and Army Sustainment Command until the Army provides more information about their proposed plan to integrate the two commands, helping ensure operations and jobs at Rock Island Arsenal are not unnecessarily affected.
  • By Sustaining Workload and Industrial Base: This provision establishes a 5-year pilot program requiring DoD to give preference to public-private partnerships in arsenals and depots, especially those non-public partners that ensure a workshare to DoD employees to protect critical skills. This provision would help ensure arsenals and factories, like Rock Island Arsenal, remain active and viable while preserving the skilled workforce, equipment and production capacity critical to the nation's defense industrial base. This is a modified version of Senator Durbin's Arsenal Workload Sustainment Act.
  • By Constructing a Child Development Center at Rock Island Arsenal: The bill authorizes $50 million in Major Construction funds for a new addition to the Child Development Center at Rock Island Arsenal and to consolidate the existing facilities and make upgrades to meet DoD guidelines and safety requirements, ensuring that eligible families at Rock Island Arsenal have a safe, modern facility for childcare.
  • By Improving Predictive Manufacturing Analytics at Army Arsenals: Language urging the continued implementation of industrial control networks across our Army's arsenals to enable the collection, aggregation, and analysis of data associated with the manufacture and repair of equipment and supplies. This work completed by MxD, the nation's digital manufacturing and cybersecurity institute, located in Chicago, helps ensure the efficiency and security of the critical manufacturing completed at Rock Island Arsenal and the Army's other arsenals.?
  • By Expanding Robotic Enhancements for Armaments Manufacturing: Language authorizing an additional $5 million for the Secretary of the Army to expand prototyping and production capacity by integrating robotics, automation and digital manufacturing into the munitions industrial base, further modernizing production at Rock Island Arsenal with technology pioneered by innovators in Chicago.?
  • By Improving the Governance of the Organic Industrial Base: Language directing the Army to analyze the effectiveness of their current governance and resourcing model for the Army's arsenals, depots as well as ammunition plants and identify opportunities for changes to ensure the enterprise and its workforce can support the military's munitions and sustainment requirements now and in the future. The Senator helped secure this provision alongside Senator Tom Cotton (R-AK). ?
  • Safeguarding Veteran Medical Care in North Chicago: This provision, led with Senator Durbin, secures a one-year extension of the Joint Medical Facility Demonstration Fund, which supports the operations of the North Chicago-based Lovell Federal Health Care Center (FHCC). This provision will help safeguard continued access to vital services for military families and Veterans in the area.
  • Protecting Cities Like Chicago from the Trump Administration's Overreach with the Military: Two provisions improve American civil rights and put guardrails on misuse of the military domestically, including:
  • By Distinguishing Troops from Federal Agents. A modified version of a provision of Senator Duckworth's Military In Law Enforcement Accountability Act (MiLEAA) requires servicemembers identify themselves as part of the military when assisting federal law enforcement when operating in the United States. As the Trump Administration continues to send federal agents and our nation's military into our communities to intimidate their fellow Americans, this provision ensures that servicemembers identify themselves properly-to avoid public misunderstanding about who is providing logistical support versus conducting arrests or law enforcement duties.
  • By Requiring Mandatory Training to Servicemembers on Rules for Use of Force and Legal Responsibilities During Domestic Deployments. This provision helps ensure troops know how to responsibly operate within the bounds of domestic laws and protect American civil rights. This provision requires DoD to provide legal training to all servicemembers, including a refresher within 90 days of any mobilization or deployment, on their responsibilities under the law of armed conflict, rules of engagement, defense support for civil authorities and standing rules for the use of force within the United States.
  • Investing in Quantum Technology in Chicago: Language recognizing the importance of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI) program, which aims to build a commercially useful fault-tolerant quantum computer (FTQC) by 2033, and encouraging the Department to concurrently prepare algorithms to operate those machines, while the hardware is being built. This provision recognizes the importance of the development of the first FTQC, which is being built at the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park in Chicago, Illinois.
  • Championing Domestic Manufacturing in Belleville: A provision requiring DoD to increase investments in and develop strategies related to enhancing the capacity, technological advancement, and long-term stability of the domestic textile and footwear industrial base, including expand domestic production capacity of textiles or footwear, maximize the use of annual or multi-year contracts for acquisitions to ensure stability and predictability to industry, and assess the resilience of the supply chain for textiles and footwear industries and reduce reliance from foreign manufacturers. This language is a modified version of the Senator's Better Outfitting Our Troops (BOOTS) Act, which recognizes that our defense industrial base for combat boots needs investment in order for it to support our troops and help ensure they have the sturdiest and most protective boots in a possible war, like those manufactured in Illinois at Belleville's Belleville Boot Manufacturing Co.
  • Advancing U.S. Bioindustrial Manufacturing Innovation in Champaign: This provision supports the innovative work being done at advanced facilities like the University of Illinois Fermentation and Agriculture Biomanufacturing Hub (iFAB) by requiring more information on how DoD is investing in this technology critical for national security.
  • Encouraging Investment in Nuclear Energy and Domestic Printed Circuit Boards: A provision allowing the Office of Strategic Capital to enter into investments in nuclear fusion and fission energy and directing OSC to explore printed circuit boards (PCBs) and PCB assemblies, to ensure these critical technologies-which Illinois plays a central role in manufacturing and advancing-has sufficient capital investments to scale for warfighting.
  • Protecting Servicemembers from Dangerous PFAS in their Protective Garments: Language requiring the DoD to articulate its plan for acquiring chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threat protective garments free from toxic PFAS chemicals as soon as possible.?Innovative Illinois research and development and manufacturing is leading the way on alternatives that protect servicemembers without relying on toxic chemicals.
  • Supporting Investments in Biomechanical, Physiological and Psychological Research on Injuries. Language that expresses support for investments in biomechanical, physiological, and psychological research to mitigate injury risks and improve physical resilience in combat operations.
  • Designing a New Aircraft Maintenance Hangar at Scott Air Force Base: The bill authorizes $6 million in Planning and Design funds for the construction of a new aircraft maintenance hangar to support the training and operational mission of the 126th Aerial Refueling Wing at Scott Air Force Base. The current hangar was constructed in 1956, remains in disrepair and no longer meets Department of Defense standards or mission requirements, making a new hangar critical to the Wing's mission.
  • Renovating General Jones Readiness Center: The bill authorizes $5 million in Planning and Design funds for major alternations to the General Richard L. Jones National Guard Readiness Center in Chicago. This facility was built in 1931 and remains one of the largest readiness centers in the country. Renovating it to meet mission requirements is a top priority for the Illinois National Guard.

Other key funding for Illinois projects set to be signed into law include:

  • $5 million authorized in Planning and Design funds to support forging annex at Rock Island Arsenal.
  • $3.05 million authorized in Planning and Design funds to support range control at Marseilles Training Center.
  • $8 million authorized in Planning and Design funds to support the Peoria Armory Readiness Center.

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Tammy Duckworth published this content on December 18, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on December 18, 2025 at 19:47 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]