12.22.22

Senate Passes Fy23 Government Funding Bill With Key Priorities Secured By Durbin

Omnibus includes aid for Ukraine, bipartisan Electoral Count Reform Act, Durbin’s INFORM Consumers Act, funds for Illinois, and more

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today released the following statement after the Senate passed the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 omnibus appropriations bill:

“The omnibus spending package is a testament to the incredible progress we have made in the last year and makes significant investments for Illinois.  It provides more than $45 billion to the people of Ukraine fighting tooth and nail to defend their freedom, the bipartisanElectoral Count Reform Act, and $27 billion in emergency disaster assistance.  It also includes a bipartisan provision I championed, the INFORM Consumers Act, which will combat the online sale of stolen, counterfeit, and dangerous consumer products by ensuring transparency of high-volume third-party sellers in online retail marketplaces.

“Now that the package has passed the Senate, I encourage the House to take it up quickly and look forward to the President signing it into law as soon as possible.” 

Other Durbin priorities included in the FY2023 omnibus appropriations bill included: 

  • $47.5 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a 5.6 percent increase.  Since Durbin first started advocating for five percent real increases for NIH nine years ago, Congress has provided NIH with $17.4 billion in additional funding (a 58 percent increase).   
  • $9.2 billion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a nine percent increase.  Since Durbin first started advocating for five percent real increases for CDC nine years ago, Congress has provided CDC with $2.4 billion in additional funding (a 35 percent increase). 
  • $12 million for Durbin’s Open Textbook Pilot, an increase of $1 million.  This amount builds on the $35 million total Durbin has secured over the previous five years for the Pilot—a competitive grant program to create and expand the sustainable use of open college textbooks, which is based on Durbin’s Affordable College Textbook Act. 
  • $12 million (a $5 million increase) for the Trauma Support in Schools grant program Durbin created in 2018.  This is in addition to the $28 million appropriated in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act for this program. 
  • $10.5 million (a $3 million increase) for Durbin’s SIREN Act grants to rural EMS agencies.
  • $75 million (an increase of $50 million) for the NIH’s ALS Expanded Access Program (created by the ACT for ALS Act, which became law last December)—this program increases access to clinical trials/experimental treatments for ALS patients. 

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