In the News
PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD)– 17th District State Representative Eric Sorensen toured the 182nd Airlift Wing in Peoria on Friday afternoon.
This comes after the Air Force announced in June that the Illinois Air National Guard’s TACP group and the Air Force band will be decommissioned from the base.
Representative Sorensen visited the facility to showcase his efforts to protect units at the base and support service members.
Sorensen said he’s trying to work across the aisle with State Representative Darin LaHood to ensure funding.
Bloomington-Normal has nearly $2.7 million in potential projects included in a U.S. House appropriations bill that has advanced from a subcommittee to the full appropriations committee.
U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen said the bill includes money for street upgrades in Normal, stormwater improvement in Uptown Normal, and the Locust-Colton storm and sanitary sewer separation project in Bloomington. Other area lawmakers have also put forward project funding for central Illinois.
BLOOMINGTON — U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen, D-Rockford, announced the inclusion of roughly $4.6 million Central Illinois infrastructure projects into pending appropriations bills.
The six projects range from affordable housing, road infrastructure, sidewalk upgrades and clean drinking water for Central Illinois communities in two House appropriations bills for 2024, according to a news release.
For years, the lock and dam system on the Mississippi River has been falling into disrepair. The system was created under President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and has been instrumental in bringing agricultural goods and products from other industries, from the Midwest, down the Mississippi, to be exported around the world.
Congresspersons Eric Sorensen (D-17) and Darin LaHood (R-16) both support the $75 million dollars allotted in the US FY2024 budget. This is the House Energy and Appropriations Bill, which will help infrastructure in Illinois rivers and the Mississippi River which upgrade navigation.
Rep. Eric Sorensen brings a rare resume to Congress. The freshman lawmaker, who represents part of the Quad Cities area of Illinois, is, by his own accounting, the first former television meteorologist in Congress in more than four decades. (The last one was Rep. Dale Milford (D-Texas), who left in 1979.)
Sorensen is a member of the Agriculture Committee and the Science, Space and Technology Committee. He represents a very purple district and is being targeted by Republicans in next year’s elections.
Today, Congressman Eric Sorensen (IL-17) and Ranking Member Mark Takano (CA-39) introduced the Autonomy for All Disabled Veterans Act, which will help disabled veterans make accessibility improvements to their homes.
“Making sure our veterans can live comfortably after serving is one of the ways we can show our gratitude for their sacrifices,” said Sorensen. “This bill helps veterans who need this critical support transition smoothly from their time bravely serving our nation.”
When Eric Sorensen wanted to start talking about climate change while delivering the weather forecast in the Quad Cities area of Illinois and Iowa, it wasn’t an easy lift.
The Illinois Democrat said he heard a lot of “hell, no” from management at his television station, WREX.
Back then, more than a decade ago, climate change was a highly politicized topic — a fact he attributed at least in part to former Vice President Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth,” which had been out just a few years at that point.
U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen addressed several topics during a telephone town hall Tuesday ranging from prescription drug costs and veterans care to the national debt ceiling and law enforcement training.
Sorensen, a Moline Democrat, answered questions from constituents from throughout the 17th District, including Morrison, Moline, Canton, Peoria, Bloomington, Rockford and Mendota.
ROCKFORD — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded $1 million to the Region 1 Planning Council to conduct environmental assessments and develop cleanup and reuse plans for polluted brownfield sites in Winnebago and Boone counties.