Quincy Reporter

U.S. Representative Mary Miller announced the passage of a bill containing elements she introduced to Congress in a December 12 Facebook post. "The 2024 waterways infrastructure bill includes several key levee safety & flood protection measures that I introduced in Congress last year," she said.

"The 2024 waterways infrastructure bill includes several key levee safety & flood protection measures that I introduced in Congress last year," said Miller, according to Facebook. "We will ensure that Illinois communities have the tools they need to protect against future floods!"

According to Miller, the bill authorizes a new Upper Mississippi River System Flood Risk and Resiliency Study and the creation of a new U.S. Army Corps of Engineers office to streamline levee project permitting, both priorities for her. "I was proud to support the House’s passage of the final version of the 2024 waterways infrastructure bill and I look forward to it becoming law in the coming days," Miller said in a statement. She emphasized that this legislation is a significant step toward providing Illinois communities along the Mississippi River with necessary tools for flood protection.

Screenshot of U.S. Rep. Mary Miller's Dec. 12 Facebook post | U.S. Rep. Mary Miller's Facebook page

The Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) has passed the U.S. House of Representatives and is now headed to the Senate. It authorizes over 200 new feasibility studies for local projects and 22 projects reviewed by the Army Corps of Engineers. The bill aims to increase project transparency and improve delivery while including provisions to assist non-federal interests by granting access to Corps resources for new projects. According to a December 10 press release from the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, should this bill pass the Senate, it may reauthorize the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Dam Safety Program through 2028.

Mary Miller currently serves in U.S. Congress, representing Illinois’ 15th district, having replaced former member John Shimkus in 2021. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Eastern Illinois University.

Miller was born in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1959 and resides in Oakland with her family. She has seven children and twenty grandchildren and continues to operate her fourth-generation family farm with her husband.