Congresswoman Cheri Bustos (IL-17) joined Senator Dick Durbin at the Rock Island Arsenal to celebrate progress on the Jointless Hull Large Format Tool and commemorate the future site of the world’s largest 3D metal printer.

During her decade representing the Illinois Quad-Cities, Congresswoman Bustos has worked with Senator Durbin to secure more than $172 million in funding to support work at the Rock Island Arsenal, including $45 million for the Jointless Hull project. Combined with the $829 million in federal infrastructure funding the lawmakers helped secure for the Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Program (NESP), Bustos and Durbin have brought more than $1 billion to support programing conducted out of the Rock Island Arsenal.

This year, Bustos also successfully included an additional $80 million in funding for the arsenal in legislation passed out of the House Appropriations Committee for FY 2023.

Highlights from the Congresswoman Bustos’ remarks during the event’s press conference can be found below:

“This is all about the future. The Arsenal is all about the future. It’s about the 21st century. 

We have gone from the factory floor to the foxhole in every single war and conflict that [America has]been involved with going back to the Civil War. This puts us in the military of the future.” 

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Sean Leary Director of Digital Media

Sean Leary is an author, director, artist, musician, producer and entrepreneur who has been writing professionally since debuting at age 11 in the pages of the Comics Buyers Guide. An honors graduate of the University of Southern California masters program, he has written over 50 books including the best-sellers The Arimathean, Every Number is Lucky to Someone and We Are All Characters.