Monday, October 26, 2009
Don Manzullo's District Accomplishments
Congressman Manzullo’s
Major Accomplishments for Northern Illinois
Major Accomplishments for Northern Illinois
1) Mail -- Led effort to convince the Postal Service to terminate its plan to move northern Illinois mail processing operations from Rockford to Palatine, maintaining overnight mail delivery in zip codes starting with 610 and 611. This effort also helped McHenry County, whose mail would have faced further delays by adding the Rockford mail to Palatine.
2) Airport -- Helped transform the Chicago-Rockford International Airport into a world-class passenger and cargo facility and consistently supported O’Hare expansion efforts to create jobs for northern Illinois residents.
- Secured more than $70 million in federal funding to date to make needed infrastructure improvements at the Chicago-Rockford International Airport.
- Convinced U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security to establish International Terminal at RFD, one of only three in Illinois.
- Helped secure $1 million grant that airport officials used as a guarantee to get United Airlines to establish service.
- Secured $750,000 for a marketing program for the airport to help build passenger service.
- Led the fight in Washington, DC to convince Congress to endorse the Rockford Airport as a legitimate reliever airport to O’Hare International Airport.
3) Manufacturing – Helped make northern Illinois the advanced manufacturing capital of the world.
- EIGERlab – Secured more than $15 million for projects and operations at the EIGERlab advanced manufacturing center in Rockford since it opened in May of 2004.
- MARRV -- Secured a $175,000 federal grant for the Manufacturer’s Alliance of the Rock River Valley (MARRV), a flexible manufacturing network of small companies that work together on contracts.
- McHenry County flexible manufacturing network and business accelerator – Secured $500,000 in 2005 for the MCEDC to develop a manufacturing flexible network to help small and medium size manufacturers join together to pursue large purchase orders; also funded creation of a technology-engineering assistance program in partnership with Northern Illinois University.
- Mill Race Crossing Industrial Park in Freeport – Helped secured $1.875 million in federal funds for infrastructure improvements to prepare for new manufacturing firms, and Bio-Diesel Plant.
- Manufacturing training program in Rockford – Secured $125,000 to help fund the Manufacturing Career Development and Training program at Rock Valley College, a public/private to develop a curriculum to train future workers for manufacturing careers.
- New Markets -- Held multiple seminars encouraging area manufacturers to get more involved with selling their products overseas and contracting with the federal government.
- Keeping jobs in America -- As Chairman of the House Manufacturing Caucus, Congressman Manzullo led the effort to reform the U.S. tax code to help manufacturers in the Rock River Valley and around the United States keep jobs here instead of sending them overseas.
- Rescinding the steel tariffs -- As Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Small Business, Congressman Manzullo held multiple hearings and met with high-level Administration officials to convince the President to rescind the steel tariffs that were pummeling steel-consuming manufacturers in the Rock River Valley.
- Belvidere Ag-Tech Park – Secured $1.5 million to help establish facility to commercialize agricultural research for alternative industrial uses.
- Rockford Manufacturing Training Initiative – Secured $200,000 in 2007 appropriations bill to develop and implement a manufacturing training program to provide highly skilled workers for area companies.
- Rockford Marketing Initiative -- Secured $1.5 million to support an effort to attract new manufacturing companies to the Rock River Valley.
- Rockford Titanium Initiative – Secured $750,000 to help launch a cooperative R&D project in Rockford between NIU and Acument Aerospace to fund new ways to manufacture titanium fasteners for the military.
- Aerospace Training and Research Center – Secured $300,000 to help establish an aerospace training and research center on the grounds of the Chicago-Rockford International Airport to help spur careers in this growing aerospace manufacturing region.
- Fighting Unfair Chinese Trade Practices – helped level the playing field for American workers by joining with Titan Tire of Freeport and the United Steelworkers to convince the International Trade Commission and U.S. Dept. of Commerce to slap countervailing duties on Chinese tire companies illegally exporting off-the-road tires into the United States.
4) Public Safety – Secured funding to better help first responders protect citizens in northern Illinois.
- New federal courthouse in Rockford – Working with Senator Durbin, secured $100 million to build a new courthouse to replace the old facility, a severe safety hazard. Groundbreaking is spring 2008.
- Police earmarks -- Secured $1.18 million to help outfit 40 law enforcement agencies in Northern Illinois with the latest crime-fighting equipment.
- Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department -- $100,000.
- Boone County Sheriff's Department -- $80,000.
- Ogle County Sheriff's Department -- $70,000.
- DeKalb County Sheriff's Department -- $20,000.
- Loves Park Police Department -- $25,000.
- Rockton Police Department -- $15,000.
- Roscoe Police Department -- $15,000.
- South Beloit Police Department -- $15,000.
- Rockford Police Department -- $70,000.
- Cherry Valley Police Department -- $10,000.
- Winnebago Police Department -- $10,000.
- Pecatonica Police Department -- $10,000.
- Belvidere Police Department -- $30,000.
- Polo Police Department -- $10,000.
- Oregon Police Department -- $25,000.
- Byron Police Department -- $25,000.
- Mount Morris Police Department -- $15,000.
- Rochelle Police Department -- $35,000.
- Genoa Police Department -- $10,000.
- McHenry County Sheriff's Department-- $100,000
- Crystal Lake Police Department -- $35,000
- Cary Police Department -- $25,000
- Lake in the Hills Police Department -- $25,000
- Huntley Police Department -- $20,000
- Algonquin Police Department -- $25,000
- Marengo Police Department -- $17,500
- Harvard Police Department -- $17,500
- Fox River Grove Police Department -- $10,000
- Lakewood Police Department -- $10,000
- Oakwood Hills Police Department -- $10,000
- JoDaviess County Sheriff’s Department-- $85,000
- Stephenson County Sheriff’s Department -- $70,000
- Carroll County Sheriff’s Department -- $25,000
- Whiteside County Sheriff’s Department -- $20,000
- Freeport Police Department -- $35,000
- Lena Police Department -- $10,000
- Galena Police Department -- $10,000
- Fulton Police Department -- $15,000
- Morrison Police Department -- $15,000
- Savanna Police Department -- $10,000.
- Fire grants – Through the fire grant act, helped dozens of northern Illinois fire departments secure hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase the latest life-saving equipment.
- Prairie Shield – Helped secure more than $5 million in U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security funding to establish the Prairie Shield initiative, which will provide state-of-the-art communications equipment to northern Illinois first responders that’s vital when responding to catastrophic disasters.
- Law Enforcement Aviation Coalition (LEAC) – helped secure three government surplus helicopters and infrared equipment for this aviation group that helps local police and federal authorities throughout northern Illinois on a number of law enforcement activities, including locate missing persons or felons by their heat signature.
- Northern Illinois College Campus Security Initiative – Secured $350,000 to help improve security at Northern Illinois University and six other institutions of higher learning in northern Illinois, including Kishwaukee College in Malta, McHenry County College in Crystal Lake, Sauk Valley Community College in Dixon, Highland Community College in Freeport, Rock Valley College in Rockford, and Rockford College. Each institution received $50,000 to bolster campus security measures to better protect students.
5) Child Protection
- Web Wise Kids -- Secured $250,000 to bring the Web Wise Kids internet safety program to northern Illinois to help train our children how to be safe from Internet predators when they are online. To date, more than 23,000 6th graders in northern Illinois have been trained through the Web Wise Kids program.
- Code Adam – Promoted the Code Adam child safety program in Rockford and Crystal Lake to help retailers locate missing children in stores.
- Child safety workshops – Gave police and parents the tools they need to locate missing children by distributing Child ID kits at child safety workshops throughout northern Illinois.
- Title X legislation – Led the fight in Congress to enact legislation to require health clinic employees to report suspected incidents of statutory rape or child molestation when distributing birth control to minors. Legislation was motivated by case of Crystal Lake teacher who continually brought his student to the local health clinic for birth control shots so he could continue molesting her.
- Internet safety forums – Held forums for parents in Roscoe, Freeport and Crystal Lake to give them strategies to protect their children from predators when they are on the Internet.
6) Roads – Worked with Senators Durbin and Obama to secure $69 million for road improvements in northern Illinois.
- $5.6 million for Illinois Rte 173/I-90 Interchange in Machesney Park.
- $6 million for West State Street Corridor Improvement Project in Rockford.
- $6 million for South Main/Il Rte 2 widening in Rockford.
- $250,000 in 2007 for Jack Dame Road extension in Rochelle.
- $250,000 in 2007 to extend Algonquin Road west to Marengo.
- $19 million ($9 million in 1998 and $10 million in 2005) for new western bypass road around clogged Routes 31/62 intersection in Algonquin.
- $6.72 million ($1 million in 2004 and $5.72 million in 2005) to widen Route 47 to 5 lanes from Kreutzer to Reed roads in Huntley.
- $6.29 million in 2005 to widen Rakow Road from Randall Road to Route 31 in Crystal Lake and Lake in the Hills.
- $1 million in 2004 for intersection improvement at Crystal Lake Avenue and Pingree Road in Crystal Lake.
- $9.3 million for U.S. 20 widening from Freeport to Galena.
- $3.8 million for Galena Avenue widening in Freeport.
- $6.2 million for Route 30 widening from Rock Falls to Fulton.
- Wrote letter to Governor Blagojevich in 2006 urging him to spend some of state’s record $6.2 billion federal road fund allocation on projects in northern Illinois.
7) Rail
- UP Intermodal Hub -- Secured $2.3 million in grants and project funds for the UP intermodal hub; brought together Ken Wise and UP officials for initial negotiations that led to $180 million hub.
- Passenger rail from Chicago to Rockford -- Secured $2.6 million for feasibility study.
- Extending Amtrak to Rockford and Galena – Joined with Senator Durbin in urging Amtrak to extend Chicago service to Rockford and beyond to Galena and Dubuque, Iowa.
- Opposing more freight trains in Barrington – Joined with Senators Durbin and Obama and Reps. Bean, Roskam, Biggert and Foster to fight the Canadian National Railway’s proposed purchase of the EJ&E rail line, which would bring 20 more freight trains a day through downtown Barrington, create severe safety hazards, exacerbate horrendous traffic problems, and cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars to mitigate.
8) Energy/Environment
- Ethanol plant in Lena – Consistently has supported incentives for ethanol, a renewable energy that provides new markets for our corn farmers.
- Future biodiesel plant in Freeport – Also supported incentives for biodiesel, a renewable energy that provides new markets for soybean farmers.
- Brownfield Redevelopment grants for Winnebago, Stephenson and Boone counties – Helped secure $4.1 million in EPA grants to allow Rockford, Loves Park, Freeport, Belvidere and county officials to assess, cleanup and redevelop contaminated areas, bringing in new employers and creating new jobs.
- Clean-up of Savanna Army Depot
- Convinced Army to form SMART Team to expedite removal of unexploded.
- $15 million in 2007 DOD approps bill to continue clean up effort.
- Helped US Fish and Wildlife Service establish the 9,000-acre Lost Mound Wildlife Refuge, part of the Upper Mississippi Wildlife Refuge, and re-open the backwaters of the Mississippi River to fishing.
- Galena water and sewer improvement project – Secured $1.5 million in federal funding to help city of Galena expand its water and sewer system. The city of Galena has a population of 3,000 people, but on weekends that number swells to 30,000 visitors.
- McHenry County groundwater protection program – Secured $300,000 to for McHenry County’s Groundwater/Stormwater Protection Program that will ensure abundant and safe drinking water for residents and prevent damaging floods for generations to come.
- Freedom Field Alternative Energy project, Rockford – Secured $50,000 to help launch alternative energy center that includes research and demonstration of hydrogen, solar, wind and bio-mass energy.
- Johnsburg Wastewater Treatment project -- Secured $2.3 million to put village on sewer system and eliminate 1 million gallons of raw sewage from flowing into the Fox River each day from failing septic systems.
- Port Barrington sewer project – Secured $500,000 to put village on sewer system and remove 70,000 gallons of raw and partially treated sewage from the Fox River each day.
- Fox River Grove wastewater treatment project – Secured $500,000 to help small village update its outdated water and sewer system.
- Oregon sewage system improvement – Secured $500,000 to help village meet EPA standards through alternative wastewater treatment project.
- Mt. Morris wastewater treatment project – Secured $500,000 to help small community meet EPA mandate for new $7.5 million wastewater treatment plant.
- Burpee Museum/Discovery Center in Rockford (Jane Exhibit) – Secured $500,000 to employ new wind, solar and geothermal energy technologies at new museum campus.
- Ethanol plant in Rochelle – Consistently has supported incentives for ethanol, a renewable energy that provides new markets for our corn farmers.
- National coalition on high-efficiency lighting – Helped launch national coalition to encourage homeowners and business owners in northern Illinois and across America to save money and energy by switching to high-efficiency lighting products.
9) Flood control – Helping residents recover from 2006 Rockford flood and 2007 floods in Rockford, Cherry Valley, Freeport, McHenry County and DeKalb County.
- Sent letters to FEMA seeking major disaster declarations.
- Spoke with heads of FEMA and SBA to urge disaster declarations.
- Secured $100,000 in 2003 and $200,000 in 2007 for Keith Creek Flood Control project in Rockford.
- Working with Senator Durbin and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on needed funding to complete emergency repairs to Alpine Dam in Rockford.
10) Veterans
- VA patient backlog in Rockford – Facilitated agreement between VA and U of I College of Medicine to provide medical treatment to veterans to reduce patient backlog.
- VA clinic in Freeport – Convinced VA to open a clinic in Freeport, freeing up slots for veterans in Rockford.
- Veterans History Project in Rockford – Helped establish local project to chronicle stories of area war veterans for future generations.
- VA clinic in McHenry – Convinced VA to open a clinic in McHenry so area veterans would no longer have to drive all the way to North Chicago for routine care.
- North Chicago VA Hospital – Worked with Reps. Kirk and Crane to convince the VA to keep open the North Chicago VA Hospital, the primary hospital for McHenry County veterans.
- Gulf War Illness legislation – Authored legislation that for the first time recognized Gulf War Illness as a service-connected disability. Legislation was inspired by the late Dan Steele, a Gulf War veteran from Freeport who died at age 36 from Gulf War Illness. Manzullo was named “Legislator of the Year” by National Vietnam and Gulf War Veterans Coalition for his efforts.
- Korean Ambassador’s visit to northern Illinois – Brought South Korean Ambassador to U.S. to northern Illinois for meetings with Korean War veterans in Rockford and Lake in the Hills. During meetings, Ambassador thanked the veterans for their efforts to protect his people and his country.
11) Tourism/Job Creation
- Burpee Museum/Discover Center Museum Campus -- Secured $1.8 million to help build new campus for Jane the Dinosaur that will help revitalize downtown Rockford and create jobs.
- Freeport Economic Development Initiative --Secured $200,000 in 2004 for economic development initiative through Freeport Area Economic Development Foundation to help identify and lure industries to downtown Freeport.
- Freeport Downtown Infrastructure Project – Secured $237,500 to help the City of Freeport fund water, power and road improvements in the Rawleigh Corridor to promote job and business creation in downtown Freeport.
12) Health Care
- U of I College of Medicine – Secured $2.44 million to help establish National Center for Rural Health Education and Professions at Rockford campus. University of Illinois trustees broke ground on the $31 million expansion in 2008.
- Crusader Clinic – Secured $1.24 million to help fund needed upgrades to serve growing patient population at Rockford’s community health clinic.
- Northern Illinois Health Care Initiative – Secured $700,000 to help fund needed hi-tech equipment at Rockford’s three hospitals (Swedish American, St. Anthony and Rockford Memorial), Rochelle Community Hospital and Freeport Hospital.
- Health Care Town Hall Meetings – During the summer/fall of 2009, Congressman Manzullo hosted 8 health care town hall meetings across northern Illinois to inform residents of the health care reform proposals in Congress and the alternatives he supports.
13) Education
- NIU Paleontology Lab at Burpee Museum – Secured $250,000 to establish NIU paleontology program in Rockford; currently 13 NIU graduate and undergraduate students working on Geology, Paleontology, Archaeology projects.
- Congressman Manzullo’s 21st Century Leaders Conference – Hosted 10 annual conferences in Rockford that have brought together more than 1,500 high school students across northern Illinois for hands-on workshops on current issues.Training future manufacturers – Secured $200,000 for the Manufacturing Career Development and Training program at Rock Valley College to provide core courses to certify students as certified manufacturing assistants.Rockford Public Schools – Secured $3.5 million for technology and reading programs in District 205.HERRA – Authored legislation that saved America’s colleges and universities – including NIU, Rock Valley College, Rockford College, MCC, Highland Community College, Kishwaukee Community College, and Sauk Valley Community College – more than $100 million annually in unnecessary tax reporting regulatory costs.Freeport Public Schools – Secured $250,000 for reading programs in Freeport schools.Rockford College – Secured $438,000 to help pay for technology upgrades in classrooms that will improve teaching and learning at Rockford College.
14) Housing
- Hope VI – Helped secure $18 million HUD grant for Winnebago County Housing Authority to revitalize Champion Park area with104 new low-income homes for needy residents.
- Homelessness – Convinced Philip Mangano, Executive Director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, to come to Rockford to view innovative ideas taking hold at Carpenter’s Place in Rockford.
- Rural Designation for Freeport – Helped convince USDA to designate Freeport as a rural community so residents can apply for grants & low-interest loans through the USDA to help residents purchase and improve their homes.
15) Seniors
- Hosted seminars throughout northern Illinois in August 2000 to help seniors protect themselves from scams.
# posted by Cal Skinner : 9:23 AM
