13th District Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski announced on Friday that she’s advanced forward several Central Illinois projects within the House Committee on Appropriations.
Earlier this year, Budzinski requested funding for 15 projects throughout Central and Southern Illinois through the U.S. House of Representatives’ Community Project Funding process. Funding for each one of Budzinski’s 15 requests, totaling more than $86 million has passed through subcommittees of the House Committee on Appropriations.
Through the Community Project Funding process, Members of Congress can request funding for up to 15 projects in their congressional district. Once submitted, the requests are reviewed by subcommittees of the House Committee on Appropriations before receiving a markup by the full committee. Once passed in the Appropriations Committee, Community Project Funding requests are considered on the House Floor in annual government funding legislation.
Projects on Budzinski’s request list impacting the local area include $75 million for the Upper Mississippi River Systems locks and dams for waterway infrastructure improvements. Budzinski was also joined in this request by Illinois Congressmen Darin LaHood and Eric Sorensen; $500,000 for the Macoupin County Center for the Developmentally Disabled for expansion of support and services; $1 million for the Moving Pillsbury Forward project to rehabilitate the former Pillsbury Mill site in Springfield; and $1.5 million for the Community Access Project 1908 in Springfield to renovate the project’s Innovation and Coworking Center incubator space on Springfield’s east side to expand and development services and small business opportunities.