Duckworth Secures Key Provisions to Protect Rock Island Arsenal, Support Illinois Quantum Technology Research and Safeguard Care for Veterans

[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), secured several important provisions to support our state’s residents, Servicemembers, Veterans and economy in theFiscal Year (FY) 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)that SASC recently approved last week and the full Senate will now consider. 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, expanding access to vital health care services for our state’s servicemembers, Veterans as well as military families and supporting research and development at the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park in Chicago.
“The brave Illinoisans who serve our nation in uniform at home and abroad deserve to know that our country fully supports them as they and their families sacrifice to defend our country,”said Senator Duckworth.“While I do not support every provision in this bipartisan compromise, I’m proud I was able to secure several important provisions to 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. I’m glad the Armed Services Committee included these important provisions in this year’s NDAA and I hope the full Senate approves it as soon possible.”
Key Duckworth provisions secured in this year’s Committee-passed NDAA that would support Illinoisans include:
In addition to these provisions, Senator Duckworth also successfully worked to protect Universities like Northwestern University and University of Illinois from having their DoD funding for critical technological research cut unnecessarily.
Other key funding for Illinois projects contained in the committee-passed bill include:
A full list of Duckworth’s priorities included in the FY26 NDAA can be foundhere.
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