Illinois officials are aggressively fighting the preliminary decision to relocate a federal spy agency elsewhere in St. Louis, rather than to a site across the Mississippi River in a suburban area of southern Illinois.
Both of Illinois' U.S. senators and three House members from that part of the state have criticized the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's plan as politically motivated and a threat to national security.
One of them, Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, wants Congress to withhold appropriations for the project. He spoke on the House floor Wednesday in favor of moving NGA's western regional headquarters to a site near Scott Air Force Base in St. Clair County, Illinois.
The defense mapping agency plans to announce a final selection in early June.