Durbin Secures Key Provisions To Support Rock Island Arsenal, Defense Manufacturing In Illinois In Committee-Passed NDAA
The FY26 NDAA, which was passed by the Senate Armed Services Committee, includes a number of Durbin-led measures & authorizations for military construction projects in Illinois
CHICAGO – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, today highlighted the critical provisions he secured in the Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which was passed out of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC). The bill, which will now head to the Senate floor, includes significant support for Rock Island Arsenal, provides security aid to Ukraine, and authorizes $112 million in military construction funds for Illinois.
“The NDAA is a strong, bipartisan show of support for our national defense and to our men and women in uniform. The Committee-passed bill includes my provisions to ensure that Rock Island Arsenal remains central to our nation’s effort to modernize the military—and I’ll work to ensure they are included in any final package,” said Durbin.
Durbin-led measures included in the FY26 NDAA are:
Rock Island Arsenal:
- Authorizes a new pilot program modeled after Durbin’s Arsenal Workload Sustainment Act to give contracting preference to public-private-partnerships between industry and Army arsenals such as at Rock Island. This provision will help ensure Rock Island Arsenal remains active while preserving the skilled workforce, equipment, and production capacity critical to the nation’s defense industrial base.
- Authorizes the Army to expand robotic munitions manufacturing capabilities at government-owned, contractor-operated facilities, which will help boost workload for facilities such as the Quad City Cartridge Case Facility.
- Restricts the Army from using any funds allocated for restructuring until the Army provides more information about its proposed plan to integrate Joint Munitions Command and Army Sustainment Command, helping ensure operations and protecting jobs at Rock Island Arsenal from unnecessary cuts.
- Accelerates the modernization of the Army Arsenals with the introduction of new production lines within the organic industrial base, enhancing workload opportunities at Rock Island and other Arsenals.
Oversight
- Requires the Department of Defense (DoD) to notify Congress on the use of military aircraft for immigration enforcement support to the Department of Homeland Security.
- Requires a number of DoD reports on the use military aircraft and other transportation support, installations or facilities, and personnel for the purposes of immigration operations, as well as on specific DoD operations at the southern border. These provisions will help improve congressional oversight and transparency amid the Trump Administration’s increased use of the military forimmigration operations.
- Enhances oversight of the use of service members to support domestic law enforcement, including increased legal training for all service members on rules of engagement and appropriate public identification of service members providing support on U.S. soil.
PFAS
- Requires DoD to develop a plan to procure chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear personnel protective garments free from toxic PFAS chemicals.
Earth Magnet Manufacturing
- Promotes domestic rare earth magnet manufacturing. Alongside semiconductors and batteries, magnets are critical for the production of everything from cell phones and vehicles to fighter jets, and this language would help onshore supply chains and manufacturing of rare earth magnets as critical components in a number of applications.
Government Contracts
- Supports APEX Accelerators, including in Illinois, which help small businesses compete for DoD and other government contracts.
Foreign Relations
- Retains provision prohibiting funds for the recognition of any sovereign Ukrainian territory forcibly seized by Russia.
- Extends and increases the authorization for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative from $300 million to $500 million and authorizes continued intelligence sharing for Ukraine.
- Prohibits the reduction of U.S. Armed Forces stationed and equipment in Europe, over concerns that President Trump may remove U.S. troops from Germany, Poland, or the Baltics.
Quantum
- Promotes DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative program, which assesses how viable it is to build a commercially useful quantum computer and supports research and development at places like the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park in Chicago.
Veterans’ Health
- Reauthorizes for another year the Treasury account to provide for the operations of the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago.
Impact Aid
- Authorizes $80 million for Impact Aid programs to provide financial assistance to school districts that support military families in compensation for the lost local tax base imposed upon by a neighboring military installation.
Military Construction
- Authorizes Military Construction funds for the following projects in Illinois:
o $50 million for construction of a new Child Development Center at Rock Island Arsenal;
o $5 million in planning and design funds to house the expanding forging capability at the Rock Island Arsenal-Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center;
o $5 million in planning and design funds for the General Richard L. Jones National Guard Readiness Center in Chicago for the Illinois Army Guard;
o $5 million in planning and design funds for an operations and maintenance facility in Marseilles for the Illinois Army Guard;
o $5 million in planning and design funds for a new Readiness Center in Peoria for the Illinois Army Guard;
o $6 million in planning and design funds for a new aircraft hangar at Scott Air Force Base for the Illinois Air Guard; and
o $36 million in maintenance support at Fort Sheridan.
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