U.S. Army allocates $110M for Rock Island Arsenal

ROCK ISLAND - U.S. lawmakers from Illinois and Iowa say the Rock Island Arsenal will receive $110 million to help it adapt and compete for new work.

Illinois Sens. Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk were among members of Congress who announced Monday the U.S. Army has allocated the money for the arsenal.

Durbin says such funding is critical as the military decreases its presence abroad. Because it'll help the arsenal adapt to a changing workload and compete with the private sector for business.

Kirk says the Rock Island Arsenal is a major Quad Cities-area employer and important to the economy.

The funding was included in the Omnibus Appropriations bill for Industrial Mobilization Capacity. That's a fund meant to help arsenals maintain competitive work rates by vying for public-private partnerships and other activities.