Senate Appropriations Committee Advances Spending Bills with Illinois Priorities Secured by Durbin, Duckworth

CHICAGO – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) announced that the Senate Appropriations Committee advanced four Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations bills last week for Interior, Environment and Related Agencies; Labor, Health, and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies; Homeland Security; and Defense. Durbin and Duckworth worked to secure various priorities for Illinois in these appropriations bills, both through Congressionally Directed Spending requests and through the programmatic appropriations process.

“Despite the significant—and avoidable—funding constraints we were under, these bills make critical investments in Illinois and our nation. I’m glad the Senate Appropriations Committee was able to come together on a bipartisan basis to advance these bills, which will benefit families, communities, and the economy in Illinois,” Durbin said. “Senators and Representatives know their states and districts better than federal agency personnel in Washington, and I’m pleased we can deliver direct results through Congressionally Directed Spending. I will continue to work with my colleagues to see these priorities across the finish line.”

“Our state and our nation are stronger when we invest in our communities and families—and that’s what these bipartisan funding bills do,” Duckworth said. “I’m proud I was able to help secure critical support for projects all throughout our state that help provide much-needed improvements to our state’s water infrastructure, expand healthcare access and support education and training programs and more.”

These funding bills include the following Illinois priorities secured by Congressionally Directed Spending requests:

Interior, Environment and Related Agencies

Grand Prairie Water Commission Development, Joliet: $300,000 to the City of Joliet to facilitate the development of the Grand Prairie Regional Water Commission better address a looming water shortage in the southwest suburbs of Chicago, including Channahon, Crest Hill, Joliet, Minooka, Romeoville, and Shorewood.

Lead Service Line Replacement, Quincy: $2 million to the City of Quincy to accelerate the replacement of Quincy’s 6,000 lead service lines with a focus on schools, day care centers, and other locations serving children in low-income areas.

Research on Rapid In-Home Lead Tests, DeKalb: $500,000 to Northwestern University’s Center for Synthetic Biology to test widespread use of a rapid lead test for water it has developed.

Sewer Separation, Bloomington: $2 million to the City of Bloomington separate currently combined stormwater and sanitary sewer systems in Bloomington, to prevent overflows, sewer backups, and flooding of homes and area waterways.

Water Plant Upgrades, East Alton: $5 million to the Village of East Alton to increase its water plant capacity and ensure a sustainable water supply for the village's residential and industrial customers in the area.

Water infrastructure upgrades, Bloomington: $950,000 to Bloomington-Normal Water Reclamation District for the construction of a new pump station and force main to allow Bloomington-Normal Water Reclamation District to absorb Clearview Sanitary District and decommission its aging and non-compliant sewage treatment lagoons.

Water infrastructure upgrades, New Burnside: $250,000 to Burnside Water District for the replacement of old obsolete meters with new AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) to reduce unaccounted water loss, increase revenue and identify customer leaks in real-time.

Lead service line replacement, Amboy: $1 million to the City of Amboy for the removal of lead water service lines.

Water infrastructure upgrades, Cahokia Heights: $500,000 to the City of Cahokia Heights for the construction of new interceptor sewers, pump stations and force mains to increase the reliability of sewer service and reduce backups and overflows.

Lead service line replacement, Polo: $400,000 to the City of Polo for the removal of lead service lines.

Labor, Health, and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies

Addressing Mental Health Among Adolescents, Chicago: $450,000 to Communities United to implement a violence prevention youth development program and community engagement activities for youth.

Advanced Practice Nursing Program, River Forest: $1 million to Dominican University to create a new Masters in Nursing (MSN) program that will support curriculum development, advanced practice nursing simulations, the hiring of qualified nurse educators, and scholarships.

Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) Program Support, Jacksonville: $911,000 to Illinois College to renovate classroom space, acquire new technology, and provide scholarship opportunities to increase enrollment of nursing students from rural Illinois and address health care shortages.

Behavioral Health Program for Youth, Chicago: $1.25 million to the Sinai Health System to expand trauma-informed mental health services at Holy Cross Hospital.

Building a Rural Nurse Educator Workforce, Lebanon: $980,000 to McKendree University to elevate nurses with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) to a Master’s of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree, to build a pipeline of qualified nurse educators and faculty in southern and south-central Illinois.

Career Pipeline Program, Oak Lawn: $500,000 to Advocate Christ Medical Center to provide summer internships to local college students for exposure to career opportunities in the health care field.

Clinic in West Garfield Park Wellness Center, Chicago: $3 million to Erie Family Health Center to offer primary health care services within the larger Sankofa wellness center.

Emergency Services Trainings Center Equipment, Palatine: $1 million to Harper College to provide safety equipment and technology, including a fire engine, fire training simulators, and fire training equipment for Harper College’s Emergency Services Training Center.

Foglia Center for Advanced Technology and Innovation, Crystal Lake: $1.06 million to McHenry County College to purchase equipment for the Foglia Center for Advanced Technology and Innovation’s two training labs.

Gale Elementary School-Based Health Center, Chicago: $415,000 to Tapestry 360 Health to relocate and expand an existing school-based health center at Gale Elementary School.

Health Care Career Facility, Canton: $1 million to Spoon River College to address health care workforce shortages by constructing a simulation laboratory to educate more students in registered nursing and allied health profession programs in rural Illinois.

Health Center Expansion, Chicago: $1 million to the Inner-City Muslim Action Network to double the capacity of its Health Center from 10,000 to 20,000 patients.

Integrated Practice Unit for Adolescent Health, Danville: $450,000 to Aunt Martha's Health and Wellness to fund the one-time cost of capital equipment purchase and limited-scope renovation at Aunt Martha's Vermilion Area Community Health Center, creating a new clinical space for an Integrated Practice Unit where low-income teens and young adults will receive personalized health services.

New Site in Southwest Chicago, Chicago: $498,000 to Alivio Medical Center to build a new clinic, expanding access to 15,000 new patients with obstetrics and midwifery services paired with a birth center, behavioral health, pediatrics, internal medicine, urgency care, dentistry, and a pharmacy.

School-Based Mental Health Services, Chicago: $1.5 million to the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois to expand school-based health services delivered by the University of Illinois and Rush University in Chicago.

Social Work Behavioral Health Simulation Lab, Chicago: $1 million to Loyola University Chicago to train social workers and allied behavioral health professionals, through the purchase of equipment to enable simulation trainings.

Trauma-Informed Facility, Chicago: $500,000 to Connections for Abused Women and their Children to construct a new, trauma-informed facility that will provide beds for 45 survivors of domestic violence and expand the delivery of counseling, legal advocacy, and crisis intervention services.

Upgrading Science Facilities and Building a Nursing Pipeline, Greenville: $665,000 to Greenville University to support technology upgrades and provide scholarships to nursing students.

Upskilling Teacher Aides to Special Education Teachers, DeKalb: $1.66 million to Northern Illinois University to support its College of Education’s LEAP program, which enrolls local paraprofessionals (teacher aides) and upskills them in two years into special education teachers by helping them obtain a bachelor’s degree and licensure.

Violence Recovery Services, Chicago: $1.1 million to University of Chicago Medical Center to fund a collaboration with Metropolitan Family Services to deliver street outreach and violence recovery services.

Immigrant and refugee support, Chicago: $150,000 to Centro Romero for Latino immigrant and refugee-serving community center to enhance their domestic violence counseling services, immigration legal services, after-school programming, public benefits access and more to enable program participants to thrive through financial self-sufficiency.

Youth homelessness support, Chicago: $425,000 to the National Runaway Safeline to partner with Chapin Hall, a national leader in youth homelessness research, to conduct an analysis and study of NRS crisis intervention and prevention services data.

Truck driver training, East Peoria: $574,000 to Illinois Central College for training materials for the Truck Driver Training Program, including tractor trailers, one Class B truck and stipends for participating students.

EMT and paramedic training, Chicago: $500,000 to the Black Fire Brigade Org. to train and place young people in career positions of EMT, EMS or Paramedic through after-school programs, employment programs, vocational training, job readiness training and online high school and GED programs.

Enhanced patient care, Kankakee: $450,000 to Aunt Martha’s Health and Wellness for the development of an integrated practice unit that will provide patient-centered coordinated care, including primary care, behavioral health and youth wellness services for more than 3,000 low-income adolescents and young adults

Pharmacy construction, Chicago: $122,000 to Chicago Family Health Center, Inc. for the construction of a pharmacy at CFHC's south Chicago clinic location.

Clinic improvements, Chicago: $516,000 to CommunityHealth for the renovation of CommunityHealth's office space to allow for more employee workspaces and additional rooms for health workshops, vaccine clinics, health education classes and more.

Shelter playground, DuPage County: $280,000 to DuPagePads for the construction of an outdoor playground for more than 130 children experiencing homelessness who are receiving emergency shelter at the DuPagePads 24-hour Interim Housing Center (IHC).

Enhanced patient care, Chicago: $168,000 to Illinois Medical District (IMD) Guest House Foundation to o enhance the services that IMD Guest House delivers to their guests with permanent or temporary physical disabilities.

Healthcare worker training, Carterville: $1,235,000 to John A Logan College to help expand healthcare classrooms and labs, upgrade outdated healthcare classrooms and train healthcare workers to fill critical shortages in rural southern Illinois.

Infant care, Elk Grove Village: $850,000 to Mothers' Milk Bank of the Western Great Lakes to help the Mothers' Milk Bank relocate to a new, expanded facility in Elk Grove, Illinois.

Enhanced patient care, Pinckneyville: $192,000 to Pinckneyville Community Hospital for innovative and advanced cardiac monitoring and vital signs capabilities to replace devices no longer supported. New systems will be placed in the Emergency Department, Oncology Unit, Surgical Unit and Medical Floor.

College readiness, Cook, Sangamon and Champaign counties: $700,000 to Hispanic Federation to expand the College Readiness, Achievement and Retention (CREAR) Futuros program to two additional universities in Illinois and support its existing program at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Program expansion, Chicago: $355,000 to Malcolm X College for the expansion of Malcolm X College's child development program.

Veterans resource center, Chicago: $145,000 to Northeastern Illinois University for the creation of a Veterans Resource Center at Northeastern Illinois University to support Veteran students' transition from military service to higher education and careers.

Health career hub, Evanston: $800,000 to Oakton College to create a health career hub in Evanston at the NorthShore Hospital complex to provide quality education and experiential learning for students entering the medical field.

Electric vehicle hub, Decatur: $1,100,000 to Richland Community College for the development of an EV Innovation Hub at the college.

Education training, Rockford: $300,000 to Rockford Public Schools for an initiative between Rockford public schools and Rockford University to allow high school students interested in pursuing a career in education to transition to a teacher prep program through Rockford University.

Workforce training, Pulaski County: $336,000 to Shawnee Community College to enhance and update the welding program at Shawnee Community College to meet the educational and employment needs of the community.

Workforce development, Palatine: $500,000 to William Rainey Harper College for the development and implementation of a career pathway to increase education and training opportunities and improve access for individuals seeking employment in jobs generated from the CHIPS Act to expand microchip manufacturing across the U.S.

Program development, Macon and Sangamon counties: $250,000 to Best Buddies International, Inc. fund the Best Buddies in Illinois Inclusion Project for Students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities to create more inclusive school communities by providing opportunities for one-to-one friendships, inclusive activities and leadership training.

Curriculum development, St. Clair County: $120,000 to Heartlinks Grief Center at Family Hospice of Belleville Area for the creation and distribution of Grief LAB: Life After Bereavement, which is an easily accessible, inexpensive, peer-focused grief support curriculum for K-12 schools.

Water safety, Illinois: $400,000 to Illinois State Alliance of YMCAs for the expansion of the YMCA Safety Around Water drowning prevention program to YMCAs throughout the State of Illinois.

Homeland Security

Storm Water Improvements, Normal: $1.55 million to the Town of Normal to install storm sewer extensions in Uptown Normal to prevent flooding that impacts local businesses, hotels, and Illinois State University dorms housing more than 2,200 students.
Emergency operations, Macomb: $1.55 million to Western Illinois University for renovations to Currens Hall Library to support ongoing development of a state-of-the-art Emergency Operations Center in Western Illinois

These funding bills include additional Illinois priorities through the programmatic appropriations process:

Interior, Environment and Related Agencies

Bureau of Land Management:

- Plant Conservation Activities Bureau of Land Management: $20.6 million, which includes Durbin’s report language to accelerate the research agenda in the seed strategy, which will improve native seed supplies and help address invasive species.

Fish and Wildlife Service:

- Incidental Take for Migratory Birds: Includes Durbin’s language for the agency to develop an incidental take authorization program, which would help address declining North America bird populations.

Natural Resources and Environment/Department of Agriculture:

- Urban and Community Forestry, Chicago Region Tree Initiative: Includes Durbin’s language that encourages the Department of Interior and Forest Service to prioritize regional collaborations to support conservation efforts to offset climate change. It also recommends the program prioritize tree planting in socially disadvantaged communities. The Chicago Region Trees Initiative (CRTI) is a collaboration of more than 200 Chicago-region partners implementing a strategy to build healthier and more diverse urban forests. Increased collaborations similar to CRTI will have national, regional, and local impacts

National Park Service:

- New Philadelphia National Historical Site: Includes language that directs NPS to ensure park operations begin in a reasonable timeframe and to keep the Committee updated on developments. In 2022, President Biden signed the New Philadelphia National Historical Park Act into law, which added New Philadelphia as a unit of the National Park System. New Philadelphia, now incorporated into Barry, Illinois, in Pike County, was the first town platted and legally registered by an African American.

Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI): Funds the program at $373 million. It also includes report language to allow funds from the program to be used for projects in the Chicago River Watershed. Congress established the GLRI to provide funding to states, tribes, local governments, and federal agencies to protect the Great Lakes. The program has provided $3.48 billion over the past 10 years to fund projects that restore habitat, fight invasive species, clean up toxic pollution, and reduce pollution runoff.

Clean Water State Revolving Funds (CWSRF): $1.6 billion to provide critical investments that create jobs, repair crumbling wastewater infrastructure, and protect public health and environmental quality. Ten percent of CWSRF may be used as grants to address lead exposure.

Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (DWSRF): $1.26 billion help water systems and states to ensure clean and safe drinking water is reliably delivered to communities. Fourteen percent of DWSRF may be used as grants to address lead exposure.

EPA Compliance: $112.7 million to enable EPA and co-regulators to undertake inspections and other monitoring activities to determine if regulated entities are complying with environmental statutes as well as applicable regulations and permit conditions.

EPA Enforcement: $391.4 million to ensure consistent and fair enforcement of all major environmental statutes and numerous regulations implementing each of those statutes. It includes Durbin’s report language supporting addressing PFAS contamination through EPA’s National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives and incorporating Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs) in settlements.

Bubbly Creek: Includes Durbin’s report language encouraging EPA to use existing authorities and programs to advance Bubbly Creek and directing EPA to brief Congress on current authorities and programs that can advance restoration of historic contamination in urban rivers and environmental justice areas, but do not qualify as a Superfund, such as Bubbly Creek.

Lead: $71.82 million for lead pipe remediation programs. Includes report language supporting prioritization of protecting children from lead hazards in homes and child care facilities in coordination with other agencies.

PFAS: $12 million for grants to address PFAS under EPA’s state Public Water System Supervision (PWSS) programs, $8 million for PFAS research in agricultural settings and communities, $2.7 million for U.S. Geological Survey research on the transmission of PFAS in watersheds and aquifers, and $2 million for the Agency For Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to continue PFAS efforts. Includes report language supporting EPA’s use of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funds for addressing PFAS and research into PFAS uptake in plants and animals; encouraging EPA to continue to act on PFAS, including addressing contamination, advancing clean up and treatment solutions, conducting research, and undertaking necessary rulemaking; and directing EPA provide a report and spending plan on FY24 PFAS actions.

Labor, Health, and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies

National Institutes of Health (NIH): The bill provides NIH with $49.2 billion, or a two percent increase above last year. NIH funding is critical for developing new cures and treatments for patients worldwide.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): $9.2 billion to continue to protect the public health.

ALS: $75 million for NIH to improve access to clinical trials for ALS patients.

· Community Violence & Trauma:

o $18 million for CDC’s community violence initiative in which it partners with community organizations, schools, and others to evaluate violence reduction interventions. Also includes, new report language aligned with the work of Durbin’s Chicago HEAL Initiative, to support hospital-based efforts to break the cycle of violence.

o $9 million for the CDC Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) program Durbin created in 2018 through the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, which improves data collection on exposure to trauma in communities.

o Within the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), $140 million for the school mental health program including $12 million for the Trauma Support in Schools grant program Durbin created in 2018. This is in addition to the $28 million provided in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act for Durbin’s program.

o $25 million for CDC and NIH firearm injury prevention research.

o $94 million for the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, and $2 million for the Interagency Task Force on Trauma-Informed Care that Durbin created in 2018 to coordinate federal trauma efforts and funding.

Congenital Heart: $8.25 million for CDC’s research, data collection, and awareness-building activities for congenital heart disease.

Health Workforce: With respect to health workforce needs, the bill provides the following funding levels:

o $11.5 million for Durbin’s SIREN Act grants to rural EMS agencies.

o $129 million for the National Health Service Corps (the NHSC also separately receives $310 million in annual mandatory funding).

o Also aligned with Durbin’s Rural Roadmap, the bill includes $47 million for HRSA’s Area Health Education Centers program—which builds the pipeline of local students into health careers, and $12.5 million for HRSA’s Rural Training Track program to help hospitals open new rural residency programs.

Tobacco/E-Cigarettes: $246.5 million for CDC’s Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Programs.

Children’s Hospital Graduate Medical Education (CHGME): $385 million for CHGME. This funding supports our nation’s children’s hospitals in training the next generation of pediatric doctors.

Title X Family Planning: $286.5 million for the Title X Family Planning Program. This is the nation’s only federal program dedicated to ensuring people have access to a broad range of reproductive health services.

Firearm Injury and Mortality Prevention Research: $12.5 million for CDC to conduct research on firearm injury and mortality prevention.

Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program: $51 million to protect children from lead exposure by funding programs that support surveillance, provide lead poisoning prevention training to public health professionals, support childhood blood lead surveillance systems, and ensure targeted screening and case management.

Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program: $4.1 billion to help low-income households and seniors with their energy bills.

Impact Aid: $1.6 billion for Impact Aid. Impact Aid provides critical funding for local educational agencies (LEA) that are unable to benefit from a state and local tax base due to the presence of federal property in their district (e.g., military bases).

Open Textbooks: $7 million for Durbin’s Open Textbook Pilot program. The Open Textbooks Pilot, based on Durbin’s Affordable College Textbook Act, is a competitive grant program to support the creation and expand the use of open college textbooks—textbooks that are freely available under an open license, allowing professors, students, researchers, and others to freely access the materials.

Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA): $2.2 billion for FSA. FSA oversees the federal student loan program, higher education accountability enforcement, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF), and Income Driven Repayment (IDR).

Career, Technical, and Adult Education: Includes Durbin’s requested report language to encourage the Department of Education to provide grants for evidence- and school-based mentoring programs that are focused on providing students with social and emotional learning and workplace skills.

Early Education Programs: $12.3 billion for Head Start, $8.7 billion for Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), $560 million for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Grants for Infants and Families, $420 million for IDEA Preschool Grants, and $310 million for Pre-School Development Grants. These programs provide early learning experiences for low-income children.

Education for the Disadvantaged: $18.6 billion to provide financial assistance to school districts with high rates of low-income students and students at risk of not meeting academic achievement requirements.

21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC): $1.3 billion for 21st CCLC to support after-school and summer learning opportunities to help students in high-need schools.

Migrant Education Program: $375.6 million for the Migrant Education Program to assist states in helping ensure all migrant students receive a high-quality, comprehensive education.

Full-Service Community Schools: $150 million for Full-Service Community Schools to provide comprehensive academic, social, and health services for students, students’ family members, and community members.

Pell Grants: Increases the maximum Pell award from $7,395 to $7,645 for the 2024-25 school year.

Strengthening Predominately Black Institutions (PBI): $22.7 million for the Strengthening PBIs program to help expand their capacity to serve low- and middle-income students, especially Black students.

Work Colleges: $1.2 billion for Federal Work Study (FWS). This includes a $11.1 million set-aside for Work Colleges. FWS provides grants to institutions of higher education to help students meet the costs of postsecondary education through part-time employment. Work Colleges are a type of college that require students to work and integrates their work into the college learning experience.

International Education and Foreign Language Studies (Domestic and Overseas Programs): $85.7 million for key programs that encourage U.S. students to learn foreign languages and to have international cultural and educational experiences.

Automation: Includes report language supporting funding for demonstration and pilot programs relating to the training needs of workers who are or are likely to be dislocated due to automation.

Reintegration of Ex-Offenders: $115 million for the Reintegration of Ex-Offenders program, to provide grants to nonprofit organizations that offer essential employment services and workforce preparation for formerly incarcerated adults and youth.

Apprenticeship Grants: $290 million in Apprenticeship Grants, to support registered apprenticeship activities through grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts. The bill includes report language supporting the prioritization of new industries and underserved and underrepresented communities.

Job Corps: $1.76 billion for Job Corps, to connect disadvantaged youth to education and job training pathways.

Wage and Hour Division: Includes report language supporting more efforts to combat exploitative child labor and violations and directing the Wage and Hour Division to pursue strategies and enforcement in industries with a high number of violations.

YouthBuild: $105 million for the YouthBuild program, to support activities that enable disadvantaged youth to obtain education and employment skills.

WIOA Title I Programs: $885.6 million for Adult Employment and Training Activities; $948 million for Youth Activities; $1 billion for Dislocated Workers Employment and Training Activities. The programs support job training programs—including state formula grants under Title I-B. The bill includes report language for $10 million to use demonstration grant authority under dislocated worker national reserve for grants to support national out of school time organizations that serve youth who need assistance with workforce readiness and soft skills.

Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC): Include’s Durbin’s report language to provide $2.5 million to reduce the processing backlog for the work opportunity tax credit program and for technical assistance to modernize and computerize processing of certification requests which would include training and technical assistance to States was included verbatim.

Unemployment Insurance State Administration Grants: $2.8 billion—to provide funding to help states implement unemployment compensation programs and assist states in modernization of technology, document sharing, and enhanced customer service.

Homeland Security

Addressing the Domestic Terrorism Threat: Includes Durbin’s report language request directing DHS to appropriately monitor and analyze domestic terrorism activity. This includes coordinating with DOJ, FBI, and key public safety officials across the country to promote information sharing and ensure an effective, responsive, and organized joint effort to combat domestic terrorism. It also directs DHS to review the anti-terrorism training and resource programs that DHS provides to law enforcement agencies and ensure that such programs include training and resources to assist State, local, and Tribal law enforcement agencies in understanding, detecting, deterring, and investigating acts of domestic terrorism and extremist activities targeting infiltration of law enforcement agencies. It also directs DHS to report to the Committee within 90 days of enactment on its assessment of the domestic terrorism threat.

Family Unity and Alternatives to Detention:

o $125 million for alternatives to detention and personnel to manage the non-detained docket of individuals in the immigration court backlog.

o Includes report language to strongly discourage family separations; to require that families transferred to ICE custody, or under ICE supervision, can report family separation incidents; and to provide training in screening for human trafficking for DHS officers. It also requires the Department to provide a monthly public report on the number of family separations that occur each month, and the basis for such separations.

Case Management Pilot Program: $32.9 million to operate this program for humanely processing family units in coordination with the DHS Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.

Access to Legal Representation for Detainees: $10 million to support expanded legal access to detention facilities, including to provide facilities with updated legal materials and online legal access. Includes Durbin’s bill language to ensure that attorneys, paralegals, and accredited representatives can have scheduled, confidential, and unmonitored communications with those detained in ICE facilities.

Transportation and Removal Account: $250 million to direct ICE to use the Transportation and Removal Program to coordinate busing of migrants within the United States. Includes Durbin’s report language reinforcing ICE authority to transport noncitizens to their final destination.

Immigration Enforcement Priorities: Includes report language requiring ICE to report to Congress the number of parents of U.S. citizen children removed from the United States.

Solitary Confinement in Immigration Detention: Includes report language expressing concern about the use of solitary confinement for housing individuals who identify as transgender. It encourages ICE to utilize Alternatives to Detention for this population.

Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA): Includes Durbin’s request to require that ICE post on its website a schedule for achieving 100 percent compliance with the PREA program. It also requires ICE to identify resource requirements necessary to achieve such compliance.

PREA: Includes Durbin’s request to require that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) post on its website a schedule for achieving 100 percent compliance with the PREA program.

Integrity in Customs and Border Protection Hiring Process: Includes a Law Enforcement Suitability Analysis that directs CBP to submit a report on the effectiveness of polygraph tests within 120 days. Experts have criticized polygraph tests as less effective than the law enforcement pre-employment test (LEPET). This includes an assessment of the polygraph test compared to the LEPET.

Non-Intrusive Inspections (NII) Systems and Programs: $199.485 million for NII equipment for monitoring inbound traffic.
Citizenship and Integration Grant Program: $23.5 million to award grants to organizations that prepare lawful permanent residents for naturalization.

Backlog Reduction and Refugee Processing: $432.2 million for operations and support, including the E-verify program and the Refugee and International Operations Program, with $183 million to process employment authorization applications and affirmative asylum backlog reduction.

Refugee Processing: The report language requires DHS to publicly make available on its website, within 90 days of enactment, specific information on refugee admissions for each of the fiscal years 2018-2023. This includes the number of refugee processing circuit rides, the number of refugee interviews conducted, and the number of approvals and denials.

- The report language also directs DHS to issue a report indicating how many interviews were conducted remotely and what infrastructure is needed to expand the use of remote interviews.

Assessing the Integrity of the H-2B Visa Program: The report language includes Durbin’s request to direct DHS, in coordination with DOL, to provide a report within 120 days providing data on the H-2B program and making recommendations to ensure the integrity of the program is safeguarded and the limited number of H-2B visas are reserved for law-abiding employers.
Shelter and Services Program (SSP): $752 million to provide shelter and other support to recently arrived noncitizen asylum seekers encountered by DHS and released from custody while awaiting the outcome of their immigration proceedings.

Disaster Relief: $20.3 billion to respond to all federally declared disasters.

Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) Grants: The bill includes Durbin’s report language expressing concern that FEMA does not consider the unique circumstances of local municipalities in BRIC grant applications, particularly for local government applicants that are disadvantaged within the program’s technical criteria because their state has not yet adopted a statewide building code.

Urban Flooding: Includes Durbin’s report language directing FEMA to incorporate urban flooding recommendations from a 2019 study you requested through the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; this includes urging FEMA to consider the capacity of urban stormwater systems and social vulnerability metrics via Census demographic data, as well as to ensure better coordination across agencies that play a role in flood management.

State Homeland Security Grants: $488.8 million for equipment/training for local first responders to enhance resilience to both natural and manmade disasters.

Urban Area Security Initiative Grants: $578.1 million to address the unique planning, training, and equipment needs of high-threat, high-density urban areas, a priority for Chicago.

Nonprofit Security Grant Program: $286.7 million to help nonprofits, including houses of worship, bolster their security. $143.3 million will be made available to urban area applicants and the other half will be made available to non-urban applicants.

Public Transportation Security Assistance and Rail Security Assistance: $98.7 million for train, including Amtrak, and bus security efforts.

Assistance to Firefighter and SAFER grants: $676.8 million in grant funding for firefighter training, vehicles, equipment, and staffing, among other uses.

Emergency Management Performance Grants: $333.7 million for planning, equipment, training, and management of emergency management programs.

Regional Catastrophic Preparedness Grants: $11.3 million to promote a more cohesive approach to regional planning for catastrophic events.

Defense

Defense Medical Research: $2.28 billion in Defense medical research, a five percent real growth increase from the Senate’s FY23 figure. Since 2015, Durbin has secured a more than 70 percent increase to defense medical research spending.

Defense Science & Technology Research: $20.3 billion. Since Durbin’s American Innovation Act was introduced in FY15, Defense S&T research increased from $12 billion to $22.4 billion in FY23.

Baltic Security Initiative (BSI): $228 million to fund the BSI. A strategic, multi-year BSI allocation allows the Baltic States to sustain and develop critical defense capabilities in a more comprehensive manner.

Arsenals: Over $250 million in funding to support work at the Arsenals, including Rock Island Arsenal.

Air National Guard: $840 million for eight new C-130J aircraft for the Air National Guard. This will support National Guard bases like the 182nd Airlift Wing in Peoria.

Scott Air Force Base: Includes bill language prohibiting a divestment of any C-40 aircraft from the current Air Force fleet to protect Scott Air Force Base.

-30-

Previous Article Next Article

Senator Dick Durbin

Senate Appropriations Committee Advances Spending Bills with Illinois Priorities Secured by Durbin, Duckworth