Streator Chamber Legislative Breakfast

 

Join us at 8 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7, for our Legislative Breakfast at Evergreen Senior Living, 1529 E. Main St.

 

State Rep. Jason Bunting, R-Emington, and state Sen. Chris Balkema, R-Channahon, along with a staff member from U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, R-Dunlap, will be in attendance to give us updates on the happenings in Springfield and Washington that have a local impact. Streator is included in each of these representatives districts. 

 

Evergreen Senior Living will be providing a full hot breakfast for attendees. The program is expected to last about an hour.

 

About the lawmakers

 

Jason R. Bunting represents Illinois' 106th House District, which covers parts of Ford, Grundy, Iroquois, La Salle, Livingston, McLean and Will counties. Bunting was appointed to the Illinois House in February 2023. He owns and maintains a family farm and trucking business in rural Emington in Livingston County near Interstate 55. Bunting also co-owns a seed business in Livingston County.

 

Chris Balkema won the Republican nomination for the 53rd District of the Illinois State Senate during the primary election this past March and then won the general election unopposed. Balkema was elected to the Grundy County Board in 2010 and was chairman since 2016. Balkema has worked at Caterpillar for the past 31 years holding leadership positions within the Human Resources, Operations, Logistics and Purchasing areas of the company.

Congressman Darin LaHood, born and raised in Peoria, serves the constituents of the 16th District of Illinois. Originally sworn into the U.S. House of Reps. on Sept. 17, 2015, after winning a special election, he won re-election to serve his fourth full term in Congress on November 8, 2022. The 16th District spans 21 counties across central and northwestern Illinois, ranging from McLean County (Bloomington-Normal) and Peoria County (Peoria) to Winnebago (Rockford) and Jo Daviess (Galena). LaHood serves over 725,000 constituents.

Prior to his election to Congress, LaHood served four years in the Illinois State Senate, beginning in 2011. LaHood spent more than nine years as a state and federal prosecutor. From 2001-2006, he worked for the U.S. Department of Justice as an Assistant United States Attorney in Las Vegas, Nevada and was selected as the Chief Terrorism Prosecutor. LaHood has also served as an Assistant State's Attorney in Cook County and Tazewell County. From 2006 up until his election to the House of Representatives, he practiced with the Peoria law firm of Miller, Hall & Triggs. LaHood serves on the House Ways and Means Committee after being selected by his colleagues in January of 2018. The Ways and Means Committee is the House’s oldest committee and has jurisdiction over all taxation and other revenue-raising measures, trade and tariffs, healthcare, and Social Security. LaHood serves as the Chairman of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Work and Welfare and is a member of the Subcommittee on Trade.