Nikki Budzinski

“I think that we should celebrate this injunction, but we should continue to be vigilant,” said Planned Parenthood Great Rivers Chief Medical Officer Margaret Baum.

Residents of 21 ZIP codes in St. Louis, St. Louis County and St. Charles County are now eligible to seek compensation for radiation exposure through a federal program. However, residents of Venice, Madison and Granite City did not make it in the expansion.

With little being said of Granite City Works’ future, some are starting to ask: Have President Donald Trump and the companies kept their promises to those in the Metro East, or have they forgotten or abandoned them?

Budzinski doesn’t find Nippon’s announcement that it will retain production at Granite City Works for two years to be reassuring.

The second-term Democrat, who represents much of the Metro East, said on Tuesday she was on the list of the man charged with killing a Minnesota state lawmaker and shooting another.

In March, the Trump administration announced it would no longer release remaining pandemic-era funding to states, which has left the district on the hook for over $19 million in repairs to heating and cooling systems in schools.

After President Donald Trump said last week that the Japanese company Nippon would invest $14 billion in U.S. Steel, it’s unclear what could happen to the Metro East steel mill.

U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski criticized Republican leaders, who she blamed for the cuts while drawing attention to the impact on Metro East communities.

Projects like the MacArthur Bridge — which connects downtown St. Louis and East St. Louis — and Cahokia Port in Sauget could be impacted, Budzinski said, adding that the new administration's criteria for infrastructure funding don’t make sense and ignore safety and community needs.

If federal dollars were to disappear, union members and the congresswoman say classroom sizes could get bigger with fewer teachers and resources for students with special needs.