Durbin Joins Bipartisan Group Of Senators Urging Amtrak To Continue Support For Routes That Connect Rural Communities In Illinois

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined a bipartisan group of Senators today calling on Amtrak to continue service to rural communities in Illinois and across the U.S. by investing in long-distance and state-supported routes. In a letter to Amtrak, the Senators requested responses to questions about Amtrak's budgeting process and proposed changes to long-distance and state-supported routes that would have major implications for rural communities who rely on Amtrak service to connect … Continue Reading

Durbin, Wicker, Leahy Reintroduce Legislation To Promote Study Abroad

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) today introduced the bipartisan Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Program Act, which creates a competitive grant program for institutions of higher education to expand study abroad opportunities for American college students. Study abroad is an important component of a well-rounded post-secondary education, giving students the opportunity to engage with other cultures, enhance foreign language skills, and… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth, Lipinski, Schneider, Underwood Ask FDA About Alternatives To Ethylene Oxide For Medical Equipment Sterilization

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and U.S. Representatives Dan Lipinski (D-IL-03), Brad Schneider (D-IL-10), and Lauren Underwood (D-IL-14), today asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about any actions it has taken, or plans to take, to examine and evaluate alternate, non-cancer causing medical equipment sterilization methods for use in the United States. In a letter to the FDA, the members highlighted the alarmingly high levels of ethylene oxide (… Continue Reading

Durbin Continues To Push For Increased Medical Research Funding

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today thanked Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), for his leadership in working with Congress to secure increased funding for medical research over the past four years. Durbin has worked with Dr. Collins-as well as Labor-HHS Chairman Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA)-to help provide the NIH with at least five percent real growth each year, f… Continue Reading

Durbin Opposes Bernhardt Nomination To Be Interior Secretary

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today released the following statement regarding the nomination of David Bernhardt to be Secretary of the Interior: "President Trump's nominee to serve as Interior Secretary, David Bernhardt, has spent his career lobbying against conservation policies in order to enrich Big Oil companies. He favors fossil fuel interests over the environmental, health, and safety interests of the American people. Americans deserve an Interior Secretar… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Join Colleagues To Push For Repeal Of Muslim Travel Ban, Prevent Future Discriminatory Bans

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) and Congresswoman Judy Chu (D-CA) today to introduce bicameral legislation to repeal President Donald Trump's existing executive order blocking travel from majority Muslim countries and prevent another baseless, discriminatory travel ban from happening again. The National Origin-Based Antidiscrimination for Nonimmigrants (NO BAN) Act repeals the three versions of President Trump's Muslim t… Continue Reading

Durbin: If President Trump Truly Cares About Venezuela, He Should Grant TPS Status To Venezuelans In The U.S.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today once again called on President Donald Trump to promptly designate Venezuela for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to ensure that Venezuelan nationals currently present in the United States are not forced to return to Venezuela at this dangerous time. In a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing yesterday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo could not tell Durbin whether or not the Trump Administration would offer TPS to approximatel… Continue Reading

Durbin Questions Jefferey Rosen, President Trump's Deputy AG Nominee

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today questioned President Donald Trump's nominee to be Deputy U.S. Attorney General, Jeffrey Rosen - who has no prior Department of Justice (DOJ) experience - about his views on the opioid epidemic and criminal justice reform. Mr. Rosen showed a limited understanding of the DOJ's responsibility when it comes to the production of 13 billion opioid doses a year in America - enough to give eve… Continue Reading

Durbin: President Trump's Demand For Troops At The Southwest Border Is Hurting Military Readiness

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Vice Chairman of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, today questioned General Joseph L. Lengyel, Chief of The National Guard Bureau, on how the National Guard's deployment to the Southwest border is impacting military readiness. In today's hearing, Durbin noted that the National Guard's current deployment to the Southwest border is estimated to cost $247 million and that President Trump's Fiscal Year 2020 budget includes n… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Push For Greater Federal Investments In Public Safety & Community Policing

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and a group of 42 Senators today in requesting a minimum of $400 million in federal funding, a 75 percent increase from the current funding level, for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Program to help local law enforcement bolster their community policing efforts. The COPS program was designed to advance public safety by addressing the full-time officer nee… Continue Reading

Durbin Presses USDA Official On Food Stamp Eligibility For Illinois' Seniors

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, today pressed Brandon Lipps, the Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), about whether he would commit to maintain Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits at residential facilities for low-income elderly and disabled people, which USDA has sought to strip in recent years in Illinois. In Illinois, there are ne… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth, Senate Democrats Unveil Legislation To Cut Taxes For Workers & Families

WASHINGTON - Ahead of tax day and the IRS Commissioner's annual appearance before the Senate and House today, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Ron Wyden (D-OR) to lead 44 Senators - including Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) - in introducing the Working Families Tax Relief Act. At a time when wages are stagnant and the cost of childcare has exploded, the Working Families Tax Relief Act would cut taxes for workers and families by expa… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Join Colleagues To Introduce Sweeping Legislation To Address Harassment In The Workplace

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and U.S. Congresswomen Katherine Clark (D-MA-05) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA-07) to introduce the Bringing an End to Harassment by Enhancing Accountability and Rejecting Discrimination (Be HEARD) in the Workplace Act. The legislation takes critical steps to ensure businesses have more resources to prevent harassment and workers have more support when they seek accountability and justice, an… Continue Reading

Durbin Opposes Bernhardt Nomination To Be Interior Secretary

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today released the following statement regarding the nomination of David Bernhardt to be Secretary of the Interior: "President Trump's nominee to serve as Interior Secretary, David Bernhardt, has spent his career lobbying against conservation policies in order to enrich Big Oil companies. He favors fossil fuel interests over the environmental, health, and safety interests of the American people. Americans deserve an Interior Secretar… Continue Reading

Durbin Presses Pompeo On Venezuela, Middle East Policies

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today derided Secretary of State Mike Pompeo when he stated that the Trump Administration had not decided whether or not they would offer Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to approximately 72,000 Venezuelan nationals currently present in the United States who face real danger and chaos if forced to return to Venezuela. Last month, Durbin led 24 Senators in a letter to President Trump requesting that his Administration promptly designate… Continue Reading

Durbin Meets With Advocates For Highway Safety On Preventing Roadside Deaths

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today met with the Board of Directors of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety to discuss potential federal solutions to prevent roadside deaths and to accept their Highway Safety Hero Award for his work in Congress to make roads safer. In Illinois, there have already been 16 roadside crashes this year that have resulted in the deaths of three Illinois state troopers. Durbin has advocated for increased funding for federal highway safety grants, which … Continue Reading

Durbin, Reed Press Trump Administration On Use Of OCO/GWOT Funding

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, and Jack Reed (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today pressed acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney on the Trump Administration's increasing use of overseas contingency operations/global war on terrorism (OCO/GWOT) funding for matters that have nothing to do with military deployments abroad. As a member of Congress, Mulvany professed concern a… Continue Reading

Durbin, Grassley, Blunt, Baldwin, Bustos, Smith Lead Effort To Fund The Modernization Of Locks Along Upper Mississippi & Illinois Rivers

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Roy Blunt (R-MO), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), along with U.S. Representatives Cheri Bustos (D-IL-17) and Jason Smith (R-MO-8) led a bipartisan, bicameral letter to Senate and House appropriators urging the inclusion of funding for the Navigation and Ecosystem Restoration Program (NESP) in the Fiscal Year 2020 Energy and Water Development Appropriations bills. NESP, which was authorized in Title VIII of the Water Resources Devel… Continue Reading

Durbin Highlights Bill That Supports Family Caregivers

CHICAGO - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today joined local advocates and caregivers to highlight his new legislation to support family caregivers. Introduced in the Senate last week with Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), the Supporting America's Caregivers and Families Act aims to increase funding, training, and support for more than 34 million family caregivers of older Americans. Each year caregivers provide more than $470 billion worth of unpaid care-more than the entire federal Medicaid budget. T… Continue Reading

Durbin & Senators To Juul: You Are More Interested In Profits Than Public Health

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), along with 10 of his Senate Democratic colleagues, today launched an investigation into JUUL Labs, Inc. by sending a letter to CEO Kevin Burns slamming the company for its partnership with Big Tobacco giant Altria, and questioning its marketing tactics to hook children on nicotine with kid-appealing flavors. The Senators posed an extensive series of questions and made requests for documents pertaining to JUUL's secret business practices around youth… Continue Reading