Press Releases
Durbin, Duckworth Announce $36 Million in Federal Funding to Bring High-Speed Internet Access to Communities Across Rural Illinois
SPRINGFIELD - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced $36,103,607 in federal funding through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to bring high-speed internet access to people living and working across 13 counties in Illinois. Today's investments include funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which provided a historic $65 billion to expand reliable, affordable, high-speed internet to all communities … Continue Reading
October 27, 2022
Durbin Receives Update From YMCA of Rock River Valley on Plans for Youth Center Following $750,000 Earmark
ROCKFORD - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today visited the YMCA of Rock River Valley to discuss the $750,000 in federal funding he and U.S. Representative Cheri Bustos (D-IL-17) secured through Congressionally Directed Spending-commonly known as an earmark-in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 omnibus appropriations bill to renovate the old Lutheran Church of Good Shepherd to house a Youth Center. This funding will allow the YMCA to refurbish and expand the space, including a recreational space and a … Continue Reading
October 27, 2022
Durbin, Duckworth Announce $8 Million in Federal Funding for Kaskaskia Regional Port District Project
SPRINGFIELD - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced that the Kaskaskia Regional Port District Project will receive $8,000,000 in federal funding through the Department of Transportation's Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP), which is administered by the U.S. Maritime Administration. With this funding, the Kaskaskia Regional Port District Project will install new rail tracks to create yard near an existing port terminal … Continue Reading
October 26, 2022
Durbin Announces $450,000 For Chicago State University Health Sciences Simulation Lab
CHICAGO - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today visited Chicago State University (CSU) to discuss the $450,000 in federal funding he secured through Congressionally Directed Spending-more commonly known as an earmark-in the Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22) Omnibus appropriations bill to purchase science laboratory equipment for their Health Sciences Simulation Lab. This funding will be used to help students learn best practices in pediatric and home health care, as well as support a workforce pipeline … Continue Reading
October 25, 2022
Durbin, Schiff Demand Google And Youtube Crack Down on Dangerous Incel Content
WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA) urged the CEOs of Alphabet and YouTube to take new, aggressive actions to limit the spread of extreme and harmful incel content on their platforms. Incels, or "involuntary celibates," are individuals - typically young men - who express extreme hatred of women and women's equality, and believe women should be subjugated by men. According to a … Continue Reading
October 25, 2022
Durbin, Duckworth Announce $1.48 Million for Nursing Education Programs in Illinois
SPRINGFIELD - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced a total of $1,483,510 in U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) grants for Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville and Loyola University in Chicago. The HHS funding was awarded through the Clinical Faculty and Preceptor Academies Program and the Registered Nurse Training Program. The Clinical Faculty and Preceptor Academies Program supports partnerships between … Continue Reading
October 25, 2022
Durbin, Duckworth Lead Colleagues in Call to EPA to Strengthen the Lead and Copper Rule to Replace Harmful Lead Pipes
WASHINGTON - During National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), a member of the Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works, along with 13 of their Senate colleagues, wrote to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in support of steps they have taken to develop and implement the Biden Administration's historic Lead Pipe and Paint Action Plan. In light of EPA's decision to draft Lead and Copper … Continue Reading
October 21, 2022
Durbin Announces $8.25 Million in Federal Funding For Electric Bus Infrastructure In Illinois
CHICAGO - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced distribution details for the $8.25 million in federal funding that he secured in the Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22) Omnibus appropriations bill for electric buses. The funding, which was earmarked by Durbin for his Statewide Electric Bus and Charging Infrastructure Program, will go toward building up the state's fleet of electric buses and constructing electric vehicle charging … Continue Reading
October 21, 2022
Durbin, Duckworth, Quigley, Casten, Schakowsky Call on USPS Board of Governors to Protect Postal Workers After Inaction From Postmaster General Dejoy
CHICAGO - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and U.S. Representatives Mike Quigley (D-IL-5), Sean Casten (D-IL-6), and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-9) sent a letter to the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors to express their concern over the inadequate response to the rise in violent crime against mail carriers. The letter comes after the lawmakers received an apathetic response to a Durbin-led letter in July that called on Postmaster General Louis … Continue Reading
October 20, 2022
Durbin, Blumenthal, Scanlon Urge Justice Department to Publicly Disclose Data on Prosecution of Corporate Crime
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee; U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT); and U.S. Representative Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) today sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to expand its Department-wide corporate crime data collection. "Comprehensive Department-wide data collection and a searchable public database of the resolutions of Department actions against corporations and … Continue Reading
October 20, 2022
Durbin Joins Colleagues in Urging DOJ & ATF To Clarify & Enforce Ghost Guns Rule
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, joined U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and thirteen Senate colleagues in urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) to issue enforcement guidance and clarify the recently finalized Ghost Gun Rule. The rule regulates unfinished frames and receivers that are the core components used to construct ghost guns, which have become the … Continue Reading
October 18, 2022
Durbin, Duckworth Applaud the Biden Administration for Approving Illinois Disaster Declaration Following July's Severe Flash Floods
SPRINGFIELD - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today applauded the Biden Administration for approving Governor JB Pritzker's request for federal assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to the State of Illinois, to help St. Clair County respond to significant damage from the flash floods from July 25-28. In August, Durbin and Duckworth led the entire Illinois Congressional delegation in sending a letter to President … Continue Reading
October 18, 2022
Durbin, Warren Urge Department of Education to Hold Predatory For-Profit College Executives Accountable for Scamming Students
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) today sent a letter along with U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Mazie Hirono (D-HI), to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona urging him to use the Department of Education's authority to hold executives and owners of predatory for-profit colleges accountable for scamming students out of a meaningful education and saddling them with … Continue Reading
October 17, 2022
Durbin Announces $600,000 For Expansion of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Services At Swedish Hospital
CHICAGO - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today visited Swedish Hospital to discuss the $600,000 Office of Victims of Crime (OVC) grant from the Department of Justice (DOJ) that will allow them to expand and strengthen their Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Program. The SANE program supports victims of sexual assault by enhancing best practice care and forensic evidence collection, supporting the recruitment and retention of nurse examiners, strengthening the community response to sexual … Continue Reading
October 14, 2022
Durbin, Duckworth Announce $12.5 Million in DOJ Awards for Illinois to Advance Community Policing
SPRINGFIELD - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced that Illinois law enforcement agencies will receive a total of $12,533,250 in funding from the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) to hire 85 new full-timelaw enforcement professionals, including 50 in Chicago. This funding is part of a nationwide announcement of more than $139 million in COPS Hiring Program (CHP) grants to 180 … Continue Reading
October 14, 2022
Durbin Statement on Administration's Action to Expand And Strengthen H-2B Visa Program
CHICAGO - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released the following statement after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in consultation with the Department of Labor (DOL), announced that nearly 65,000 supplemental H-2B visas will be allocated in fiscal year (FY) 2023 and that DHS and DOL are implementing changes to address abuses in the H-2B Visa Program: "I have long had serious concerns about the effect of increasing the H-2B cap … Continue Reading
October 13, 2022
Durbin Joins Gillibrand In Calling for EPA to Further Address Toxic Peas Pollution in Upcoming Guidance
WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), along with 12 of their colleagues, in sending a letter calling for the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to increase its efforts to stop the flow of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances?(PFAS) into communities. Ahead of the EPA's upcoming guidance to state permitting authorities on how to address PFAS in National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) … Continue Reading
October 13, 2022
Durbin Announces $775,000 for Aurora University to Improve Training for Nursing Students
AURORA - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today visited Aurora University (AU) to discuss the $775,000 in federal funding he secured through Congressionally Directed Spending-commonly known as an earmark-in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 omnibus appropriations bill to provide enhanced hands-on training opportunities for nearly 800 nursing students. This funding will allow the University to obtain new state-of-the-art training technology, including simulation manikins, to teach foundational skills … Continue Reading
October 12, 2022
Durbin, Portman, Rubio Provisions to Ban U.S. Recognition of Any Ukrainian Territory Annexed By Russia Included In Proposed FY23 NDAA Substitute
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), Co-Chairs of the Senate Ukraine Caucus, and Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) announced their amendments that prohibit the United States from recognizing any Russian claim of sovereignty over any portion of the internationally recognized territory of Ukraine have been included in the substitute of the Senate-version of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that advanced to the … Continue Reading
October 12, 2022
Durbin Questions Lindsay C. Jenkins, Nominated to the Northern District of Illinois, in Judiciary Committee Hearing
WASHINGTON - During today's Senate Judiciary Committee nominations hearing, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, questioned Lindsay C. Jenkins, nominated to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois. During the hearing, Durbin highlighted her extensive qualifications and background as a federal prosecutor. Ms. Jenkins spent 15 years as a federal prosecutor in the Northern District of Illinois, and in that time, … Continue Reading