New York Times: Bustos top House Democrat for securing funding for local projects

U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos was the top Democrat in the House when it came to securing federal funding for district projects, according to a New York Times report published Friday.

In the article “As Earmarks Return to Congress, Lawmakers Rush to Steer Money Home,” the Times analysis showed Bustos secured $55 million for local projects.

Bustos represents the 17th District that includes Whiteside County. She is not seeking re-election.

Bustos provided a list of her top earmarks in a news release also issued on Friday. Among those projects was the $1.5 million for the automation annex at Morrison Institute of Technology and the $45.1 million for the Rock Island District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers so it can modernize a lock on the Upper Mississippi River to reduce shipping congestion.

Bustos was No. 2 in the House. Blaine Luetkemeyer, a Missouri Republican, secured $56 million for projects, the Times reported.

The article said that government spending bills included 5,000 earmarks totaling $9 billion.

Bustos had the most earmarks from the Illinois House delegation, the Times said. Brad Schneider, a Democrat from the 10th District, was next at $19.9 million. Darin LaHood, who represents the 18th District but is running in the Republican primary for the reconfigured 16th district that includes Lee County, was fourth with $17.7 million.

The Times article said Bustos secured such a large amount of earmarks by working with lawmakers from both parties in the state’s delegation. It said she also got input from 150 small towns in her district and evaluated the requests for funding based on merit and regional diversity.

In a Jan. 6 interview with Shaw Media conducted at the Gazette and Telegraph office in Dixon, Bustos explained her willingness to work with lawmakers on the other side of the aisle, even though the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection has heightened partisan feelings. Bustos said her observation is that some House Democrats won’t work with any Republicans who objected to certifying the 2020 Electoral College results.

[ It's a real loss: Illinois 17th Congressional District to move forward without Cheri Bustos ]

“I view it differently,” she said in that interview. “I can compartmentalize. I have to compartmentalize if I’m going to get done what I want to get done for our district. I’m in a Republican-leaning district, and I’m a Democrat. So the expectation of people is to work together, even if you disagree on a vote that is that important.”

Other funding Bustos secured included $4.5 million for climate resilience and biomanufacturing at Peoria Ag Lab, $1.2 million to upgrade Galesburg wastewater treatment, $1 million to demolish the site of former Harrison School in Peoria, $750,000 for the YMCA of Rock River Valley Youth Equity Center in Rockford, and $500,000 for Illinois Central College’s Cradle to Career Initiative. Other projects were the East Dubuque library expansion, business-focused programing at Western Illinois University’s Quad Cities campus, and for an outpatient behavioral health care clinic at Rosecrance in Freeport.