Bustos Honored By Village Of Thomson For Leading Effort To Ensure Opening Of Thomson Prison

This week, the Village of Thomson passed by unanimous consent a Resolution of Appreciation to Congresswoman Cheri Bustos (IL-17) for leading the bipartisan effort last week to successfully defend Thomson Correctional Facility and ensure it remains on track to open. 

“The opening of Thomson prison will not only alleviate overcrowding of our prison system, but it will create over a thousand local jobs and be an economic shot in the arm to a region that continues to struggle with high unemployment,” said Congresswoman Cheri Bustos.  “That’s why I was proud to lead this recent effort to defend Thomson prison from those that would have shut it down and won’t rest until the opening and activation are fully complete.”    

“The hardworking people of Thomson have patiently endured countless broken promises while a state-of-art facility has sat dormant for over a decade,” said Vicky Trager, Thomson Village President.  “We applaud Congresswoman Bustos’ leadership on behalf of our community, which now has finally within its grasp the jobs and economic opportunity promised to it years ago.  This resolution affirms our Village’s appreciation for Congresswoman Bustos and the entire Illinois congressional delegation for standing up for the people of Thomson and the economic future of our entire region.”

On the House floor last week, Bustos lead the charge in opposing a foolish and misguided amendment by Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (TN-7) that sought to deny funds in a critical appropriations bill from being used on Thomson prison.  The Blackburn amendment, which was staunchly supported in a floor speech by Congressman Frank Wolf (VA-10), was defeated on a bipartisan basis, with no members of the Illinois congressional delegation supporting it.

Video of Bustos fighting for Thomson Prison on the House floor can be found HERE and a copy of the Resolution of Appreciation can be found HERE.

In March, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Bustos announced that the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has committed $53.7 million in funding to the activation of Thomson prison.  The funding was approved by Congress in January as part of the Omnibus Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2014.

Thomson prison is expected to provide a major boost to the local economy and create more than 1,100 jobs.

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