The congresswoman who represents much of the Metro East would like some of the $14 billion from the Japanese company investing in U.S. Steel to trickle down to the steel mill in Granite City.
Last week, President Donald Trump said Nippon’s proposed takeover of the American steel giant, which owns Granite City Works, would proceed. Trump said that the headquarters of U.S. Steel will remain in the U.S. and that the deal would be a partnership.
U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-Springfield, said Nippon’s cash would be welcome in the Metro East.
“I want that $14 billion to come to Granite City,” Budzinski said on Thursday at an unrelated event. “I mean, there is no reason why a granulator can't be built … on Granite City Steel's property.”
Budzinski, like most elected officials from both parties, opposed the deal from the beginning, citing national security concerns and qualms from the steelworkers union. If the deal goes through, she said the mill in her district should see some dollars.
“Those are the kind of investments that I want to see,” she said. “From the very beginning of this, all I've asked for is more investment in Granite City and the hardworking men and women that have built that company in our community — and see Granite City Steel stay.”
The steelworkers locally have been in limbo over the past few years.
A separate deal to sell both blast furnaces in Granite City has stalled, but it could be resurrected. U.S. Steel shut down the second blast furnace in fall 2023, which led to a few hundred layoffs.
Earlier this week, local union leadership said it wasn’t clear what Nippon’s investment in U.S. Steel would mean for Granite City Works employees.
Budzinski critiques Trump's agenda
Budzinski also said Thursday she’s expecting Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” that narrowly passed the House of Representatives last week to run into a “buzzsaw” in the Senate.
“What we're going to see is the Senate is probably going to be making tweaks, but I'm still very concerned about a number of issues.”
About 28,000 constituents in Illinois’ 13th Congressional District stand to lose health care if Medicaid funding is cut as proposed under the bill passed by the House, Budzinski said. Providers in her district, like Chestnut Clinic in Granite City, rely heavily on Medicaid reimbursements.
“Most importantly, I want to see our most vulnerable communities in those cuts to Medicaid and SNAP not happen,” she said.
The second-term congresswoman also called the legislation a “big, beautiful monstrosity” and said it’s financially irresponsible. The Congressional Budget Office estimates it would add $3.8 trillion to the national debt over a decade.
After the U.S. Court of International Trade blocked a portion of Trump’s tariffs on Wednesday, Budzinski said it was “clear overreach” by the president.
“This is not good for small businesses that are relying on things in order to make their business successful that might be imported — a part or a component that just isn't built in our community and has to be imported in from potentially from another country,” she said.
