Durbin Statement On GAO Legal Decision Finding Trump Administration Violated Law By Withholding Ukraine Military Aid

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, today released the following statement after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a legal decision, which finds that the Trump Administration's order to hold $250 million in defense aid to Ukraine violated the Impoundment Control Act, a law passed by Congress to rein in Nixon-era abuses. The GAO ruling found that a president can only put a hold on congressiona… Continue Reading

Durbin Calls On Senate Colleagues To Stand Up For Veterans & Students Defrauded By For-Profit Colleges

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today, in a speech on the Senate floor, slammed Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' rewritten borrower defense rule that guts essential protections for student borrowers and taxpayers. Durbin urged his Senate colleagues to support his Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution (S.J.Res. 56) of disapproval overturning the DeVos rule when it comes to the Senate floor for a vote. Durbin cited a letter urging the Senate to overt… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Call On Army To Review Illinois Army Reserve's Handling Of Sexual Assault Claims

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today called on the U.S. Army to review reported mishandling by leaders of the Illinois-based Army Reserve unit, the 416th Theater Engineer Command, of multiple sexual assault claims. In a letter to U.S. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, Durbin and Duckworth called for a comprehensive review of the troubling charges brought to light by a recent Associated Press article into handling of sexual assault claims by the 416th. Durbin… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Join Colleagues To Request Meeting With HUD Secretary On Radon Dangers In Public Housing

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and a bipartisan group of Senators in requesting a meeting with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson to get answers on why the agency has failed to protect tenants living in federally subsidized housing from the cancer-causing dangers of radon and to chart a path forward to resolve this serious health hazard. Despite a federal mandate to "develop an effe… Continue Reading

Durbin, Top Senate Dems Vow Vote To Reverse Trump Decision To Divert Pentagon Funds To Pay For Border Wall

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip and Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Vice Chair Dick Durbin (D-IL), along with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-RI), and Appropriations Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee Ranking Member Tom Udall (D-NM) today released the following statement on President Donald Trump's plan to divert an additional $7.2 billion… Continue Reading

Durbin Discusses Illinois Agriculture With U.S. Ambassador To China Terry Brandstad

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, met with U.S. Ambassador to China and former Iowa Governor Terry Brandstad today to discuss Illinois agriculture, including President Trump's recently announced "Phase One" trade deal with China. Durbin shared his concerns with the Trump Administration's haphazard trade approach with China, and how soybean farmers in Illinois previously enjoyed a productive trade market with Ch… Continue Reading

Durbin, Schneider Reintroduce Legislation To Combat Domestic Terrorist Threat

WASHINGTON-Following a year of horrific incidents of domestic terrorism targeting religious and ethnic minorities and communities of color, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Representative Brad Schneider (D-IL-10) today reintroduced bicameral legislation to address the growing domestic-terrorism threat. The Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2020 would enhance the federal government's efforts to prevent domestic terrorism by establishing offices dedicated to combating th… Continue Reading

Durbin: The Power To Declare War Rests Solely With Congress

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, today continued to caution President Donald Trump from plunging the United States into yet another endless war in the Middle East. In a speech on the Senate floor, Durbin also urged his colleagues to support a war powers resolution, introduced by Durbin and Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) earlier this month, to force a debate and vote in Congress to prevent a war with Iran with… Continue Reading

In Aftermath Of Recent Attacks, Durbin Again Calls For Trump Admin To Step Up Efforts To Combat Domestic Terrorism & Hate Crimes

CHICAGO-Given the disturbing increase in domestic terrorism and hate crime incidents targeting religious minorities and communities of color, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today wrote to Attorney General William Barr and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray calling on them to take the initiative in leading a coordinated nationwide effort by federal, state, and local law enforcement and intelligence to disrupt and prevent these violent domestic terr… Continue Reading

Durbin, Senators Introduce Comprehensive Legislation To Address Youth Tobacco Crisis

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), along with U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), introduced the Reversing the Youth Tobacco Epidemic Act of 2020, comprehensive legislation to get kid-friendly e-cigarette flavors off the market, stop tobacco companies from targeting youth with marketing schemes, and to curb the rise in the use of tobacco and e-cigarette products among youth. The bill follows Congressional action to increase the federal minimum age to purchase tobacco products to 21 yea… Continue Reading

Durbin Leads Bicameral, Bipartisan Coalition In Pledging Support To Australia Amid Ongoing Bushfire Crisis

WASHINGTON - Today, the co-chairs of the bicameral Friends of Australia Caucus, which include U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Roy Blunt (R-MO), and U.S. Representatives Joe Courtney (D-CT-02) and Mike Gallagher (R-WI-08), sent a letter to Australian Ambassador Joe Hockey expressing their full support for the people of Australia during the ongoing bushfire crisis. Durbin, Blunt, Courtney, and Gallagher met with Ambassador Hockey this morning, and a photo of that meeting is available here. "… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Call For Investigation Of Arcelormittal Following Reports Of Pollution Violations

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to urge the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) to conduct a full investigation of ArcelorMittal's Burns Harbor facility in northwest Indiana following reports from Chicago Tribune and CBS Chicago that the corporation is manipulating water tests and that unacceptable levels of cyanide and ammonia were found in the water discharged from the plan… Continue Reading

Durbin: For The Sake Of Our Children, FDA Must Get Off Sidelines To Address Vaping Epidemic

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today, in a speech on the Senate floor, discussed the Trump Administration's back-tracking on a plan to ban all e-cigarette flavors-including mint and menthol-and called on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take additional steps to curb our nation's youth vaping epidemic. With five million children nationwide now vaping-a 135 percent increase over the last two years of this presidency-urgent, comprehensive action is needed now t… Continue Reading

Durbin Calls On Philippine Government To Release Filipina Senator De Lima

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today once again called for the Philippine government and its autocratic president, Rodrigo Duterte, to release Filipina Senator Leila de Lima or assure a quick and credible trial for her politically motivated incarceration. Senator de Lima is the former head of the National Human Rights Commission of the Philippines and an internationally recognized human right champion who was critical of President Duterte's extrajudicial killings. … Continue Reading

Durbin Announces Support For USMCA Trade Deal

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today, in a speech on the Senate floor, announced that he will support the United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA), which updates the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Durbin applauded important labor and pharmaceutical changes secured by Democrats that made the USMCA better for American workers, farmers, manufacturers, and families. He also said the USMCA will support the economy in Illinois. "A new NAFTA, the USMCA, … Continue Reading

Durbin To Colleagues: Stand Up & Support Iran War Powers Resolution

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, today cautioned President Donald Trump from plunging the United States into yet another endless war in the Middle East following Iran's ballistic missile attack at two military bases in Iraq where American troops are based. In a speech on the Senate floor, Durbin also urged his colleagues to support a war powers resolution, introduced by Durbin and Senator Tim Kaine (D-V… Continue Reading

Durbin, Senate Dems Demand Answers From Defense Department On Number Of Troop Deployment To Middle East Following Recent Strike

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), Vice Chairman of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, along with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Senate Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-RI), sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and U.S. Army General Mark Milley, requesting that Congress be provided with regular briefings and documents detailing the number of troops the Trump Administration has deployed and plans to deploy in support of… Continue Reading

Durbin: Stand Up For Veterans, Students, And Families By Overturning DeVos Borrower Defense Rule

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today, in a speech on the Senate floor, slammed Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' rewritten borrower defense rule that guts essential protections for student borrowers and taxpayers. Durbin urged his Senate colleagues to support his Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution (S.J.Res. 56) of disapproval overturning the DeVos rule when it comes to the Senate floor for a vote. "With this new rule, Secretary DeVos is saying … Continue Reading

Durbin To McConnell: Senate Must Conduct A Fair And Honest Impeachment Trial Including Key Witnesses & Documents

WASHINGTON - In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to conduct a fair impeachment trial with key witnesses and documents directly related to the Trump Administration's decision-making regarding the delay in military aid to Ukraine and the Administration's requests that Ukraine conduct certain investigations. "What we are saying on the Democratic side is if there's to be a trial for impeachment… Continue Reading

Durbin: Only Congress Has The Power To Declare War With Iran

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, today slammed President Donald Trump's erratic and incoherent policies regarding Iran that might plunge the United States into yet another endless war in the Middle East. In a speech on the Senate floor, Durbin also urged his colleagues to support a war powers resolution, introduced by Durbin and Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) last week, to force a debate and vote in Congress … Continue Reading