PEORIA — A planned $9 million firehouse for the 60 or so firefighters at the 182nd Airlift Wing could be eliminated to help fund a proposed border wall.
That's according to a list released Monday by the Pentagon of military construction projects that could be delayed in order to pay for the wall along the country's southern border.
For years, the Illinois Air National Guard unit at the Gen. Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport has provided fire service to both the military and the civilian side of the airport as well as helping to respond, when needed, to fires nearby. They are also responsible for providing fire and emergency medical coverage to the Army National Guard's helicopter units located nearby. Pilots in those units fly UH-60 Blackhawks and Ch-47F Chinooks. There's also an unnamed aerial vehicle unit located within the Army's facility as well.
U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois, Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Brian Schatz of Hawaii, all decried the move. The three Democrats sit on committees within the U.S. Senate that handle military spending.
"Earlier today, the Department of Defense provided Congress with a list of projects which may be impacted by the president's desire to divert military funding to pay for his border wall," the three said in a joint statement. "The Department claims that it will exempt housing, barracks, and dormitories — and in the process quietly acknowledges that more than $10 billion of other top priorities that the military and their families have requested over the last several years is on the chopping block in order to placate the president. This madness will not stop until more of our Republican colleagues are willing to put the military ahead of party politics."
Last May, when funding was approved as part of the National Defense Authorization Act, officials at the 182nd praised the move, saying the unit has been working for years to get a replacement to its building, which was built when the facility was created in 1992. At the time, the wing flew F-16 Falcon fighter jets and didn't cover the other parts of the airport.
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