Duckworth’s busy day: Sparring with JD Vance, proposing $1.5 billion plan to fix rail bridges

If new transportation legislation co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth and Rep. Mike Quigley passes, it could make trips a lot faster for riders on Metra and other commuter rail systems.

The two Democratic lawmakers announced the Building Rail Infrastructure for a Durable and Growing Economy (BRIDGE) Act Wednesday.

It would create a program allowing commuter railroads to compete for $1.5 billion annually to help pay for overdue maintenance, repairs and replacement of bridges. Metra alone has more than 200 bridges that need to be fixed.

“Across Chicago and cities around the country, thousands of commuters rely on rail bridges that are more than a century old — bridges that were never meant to carry today’s level of traffic,” Duckworth said. The measure is “about protecting safety, growing our economy and making it easier for people and goods to get where they need to go.”

Commuter rail infrastructure typically plays second fiddle to highway reconstruction when it comes to funding.

Far too many rail bridges “are in desperate need of repair,” Quigley said in a statement. “Yet, there is no dedicated federal program to address their condition. The BRIDGE Act closes that gap.”

About half of Metra’s 446 bridges are over 100 years old. The grant program would be funded through the Highway Trust Fund and stretch from 2027 to 2031 if approved.

Vice president gets involved

Also Wednesday, the Hoffman Estates Democrat sparred with Secretary of State Marco Rubio at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing over U.S. intervention in Venezuela and the capture of President Nicolas Maduro.

Duckworth asked Rubio if he would advise President Donald Trump to rescind his invocation of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, “a notorious wartime law last used for Japanese internment.”

“This is a wartime act, are we currently at war with Venezuela?” she asked.

Rubio denied that, saying the act was invoked to deport gang members trafficking drugs. “What the president was talking about are these gangs and these narcotrafficking groups that are waging war on the United States,” Rubio said.

“We don’t need to be in another forever war Mr. Secretary and that is the path we are going toward,” said Duckworth, a veteran who lost both legs in a mission in Iraq.

Vice President JD Vance posted on X that “Watching Tammy Duckworth obsessively interrupt Marco Rubio during this hearing is like watching Forrest Gump argue with Isaac Newton.”

Duckworth responded on X, saying “Forrest Gump ran toward danger in Vietnam. Your boss ran to his podiatrist crying bone spurs. Petty insults at the expense of people with disabilities won't change the fact that you're risking troops' lives to boost Chevron's stock price. It's my job to hold you accountable.”