WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) led U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth and U.S. Representatives Mike Quigley (D-IL), Dan Lipinski (D-IL), Robin Kelly (D-IL), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Bobby Rush (D-IL), Peter Roskam (R-IL), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Rodney Davis (D-IL), Mike Bost (R-IL), Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL), Bill Foster (D-IL), Cheri Bustos (D-IL), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Danny Davis (D-IL), Randy Hultgren (R-IL), Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), Darin LaHood (R-IL), and John Shimkus (R-IL) in pressing the Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) to include funding for the construction of the McCook Reservoir Project in the Fiscal Year 2017 Army Corp Work Plan. In a bipartisan letter to Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army Douglas Lamont and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Mick Mulvaney, the members stressed that in order to receive the funding made available for McCook Reservoir in the recently-passed fiscal year 2017 omnibus, the Corps must include the project in its fiscal year 2017 Work Plan.

The McCook Reservoir Project is a major flood damage reduction reservoir of the Chicagoland Underflow Plan (CUP) that will provide more than $114 million in flood damage reduction benefits to five million residents of Chicago and 36 surrounding suburban communities.

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“The Illinois Congressional delegation stands in strong support of this cost-effective and multiple benefit project, which will protect the health and safety of our citizens. We strongly urge you to include $18.1 million in construction funds for the McCook Reservoir in the FY 2017 Corps of Engineers Work Plan, and we request that the Administration continue to budget for this priority project through its completion,” the members wrote in their letter to Acting Assistant Secretary Lamont and OMB Director Mulvaney.

The McCook Reservoir was authorized by Congress in the Water Resources Development Act of 1988 and is currently 91 percent complete. When finished in 2029, the reservoir will hold ten billion gallons of water and protect 1.2 million homes and businesses in the region from flooding. It will also greatly improve the quality of area waterways by reducing untreated sewage backflow into Lake Michigan, which serves as Chicago’s drinking water supply, and storing combined sewer overflow during flooding events before the water can be directed through the Stickney Wastewater Treatment Plant.

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