Durbin Holds Roundtable To Discuss How Trump's Tariffs Are Impacting Farmers

NIANTIC-U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, today held a roundtable discussion with local agricultural leaders to discuss issues impacting farmers, including the President's recent trade war with China that places tariffs on Chinese goods. China is Illinois' number one agriculture export market. "This has been a tough planting season - and when you combine it with the President's mystifying decisions like a reckless trade w… Continue Reading

Durbin, Baldwin, Sanders, Warren, Blumenthal To FDA: Hold Avexis Accountable

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) today blasted AveXis, a subdivision of pharmaceutical giant Novartis, for falsifying data in order to obtain approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its new gene therapy, Zolgensma, which was developed through taxpayer funding and is now sold for $2.1 million. In a letter to FDA Acting Commissioner Dr. Ned Sharpless, the Senators urg… Continue Reading

Durbin, Booker Call Out Barr, Wray For Inadequate Effort To Combat White Supremacist Terrorism

WASHINGTON-Following another devastating incident of domestic terrorism committed by a white supremacist, this time in El Paso, Texas, U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) today pressed Attorney General William Barr and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wrayabout what the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI are doing to combat white supremacist violence. "After the horrific September 11th terrorist attacks, your agencies shifted focus from invest… Continue Reading

In Peoria, Durbin Announces Bill To Boost Agricultural Research Funding

PEORIA-U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, today unveiled new legislation that would authorize a five percent annual funding increase over the next five years at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). With most domestic agriculture research on the decline, the America Grows Act would restore the United States' commitment to publically-funded agriculture research at USDA. Durbin announced the bill while visiting the Peor… Continue Reading

Durbin Asks Barr To Investigate Opioid Companies That Fueled Addiction Epidemic

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the role of pharmaceutical companies and their executives in fueling the opioid epidemic in America. In a letter to U.S. Attorney General William Barr, Durbin cited recent Washington Post reporting that revealed 76 billion opioid pills were distributed in America between 2006 and 2012 and that opioid distributors and manufacturers ignored persistent red flags that those pills were being sold … Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Urge MLB To Report Data On Foul Ball Injuries At Ballparks

WASHINGTON-After repeated incidents of Major League Baseball (MLB) fans being hit by foul balls, U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) wrote to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, urging MLB to collect and report data about fan injuries at MLB baseball stadiums. In their letter, the Senators said that releasing this data would help provide the public a better understanding of fan injuries and evaluate the voluntary safety measures that teams are implementing. "This will provide… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth, Stabenow, Peters Urge USDA To Delay Crop Insurance Premium Deadline

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry; Tammy Duckworth (D-IL); Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry; and Gary Peters (D-MI) today urged the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to help farmers by deferring penalties or postponing the crop insurance premium deadline to December 1, 2019, instead of October 1, 2019. In a letter to USDA Under Secretary… Continue Reading

Durbin Discusses Bipartisan Bill To Speed Up Availability Of Generic Insulin

MOLINE - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today discussed the Affordable Insulin Approvals Now Act, a bipartisan bill to speed up approvals of lower-cost, generic, and "follow-on" insulin products in order to help reduce costs of the life-saving drug. Approximately 7.5 million Americans with diabetes rely on insulin every day to survive, yet the drug has experienced a price increase of more than 600 percent over the past two decades in the United States. This legislation, introduced by Durbin la… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Statement On GAO Report On VA Oversight Of State Veterans Homes

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) released the following statement today after a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) detailed recommendations for improved oversight by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) of State Veterans Homes (SVH) across the country. In 2017, Durbin and Duckworth asked GAO to review VA oversight of SVH's after a deadly Legionnaires' outbreak at the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy. "While SVHs are owned… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Urge VA Secretary To End Anti-Worker, Anti-Union Negotiation Tactics

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), along with Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and a group of Democratic colleagues, sent a letter to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Robert Wilkie urging him to abandon the Department's current destructive approach to ongoing negotiations with the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). Despite VA and AFGE's history of engaging in good-faith negotiations that equally benefit employees, Veterans and the… Continue Reading

Durbin Reintroduces Bipartisan Legislation To Combat Illegal Straw Purchasing And Firearms Trafficking

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), along with Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Susan Collins (R-ME), introduced bipartisan legislation to close loopholes that criminals exploit to obtain firearms through straw purchasing and firearms trafficking. The Stop Illegal Trafficking in Firearms Act of 2019 would, for the first time, make it an explicit federal crime to act as a straw purchaser of firearms. The bill would also create tough penalties for anyone who transfers a firearm with re… Continue Reading

Durbin Introduces Bipartisan Legislation To Strengthen Rural Health Workforce

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, along with Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Doug Jones (D-AL), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), introduced bipartisan legislation to address critical rural health workforce shortages. The Rural America Health Corps Act would create a new program that improves the existing National Health Service Corps (NHSC) program by providing new dedicated student loan forgiveness funding for health car… Continue Reading

Durbin Pays Tribute To Illinois Service Member Killed In Afghanistan

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today paid tribute to Specialist Michael Isaiah Nance, of Chicago, Illinois, who was killed on July 29 in Afghanistan. In a speech on the Senate floor, Durbin expressed his condolences to Nance's family and friends. "The motto of the 82nd Airborne is, 'Airborne all the way!' Isaiah lived every bit of this motto in his faithful service to America, and with his family and friends," Durbin said. "Mr. President, every member of the Senate would be pro… Continue Reading

Durbin Statement On Rigged Markup Of Cruel Trump-Graham Proposal Targeting Vulnerable Children

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, today released the following statement after voting against the Trump-Graham asylum proposal in the Senate Judiciary Committee: "The Trump-Graham proposal includes no assurances that children will be humanely treated or that they will be safe from violence once they are deported. And this bill does nothing to address root causes that are causing migrants to flee the North… Continue Reading

Durbin Statement on Bipartisan Budget Act

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today released the following statement after voting for the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019: "This important agreement will avoid harmful cuts to domestic priorities and prevent a default on our nation's debt. Most importantly, this agreement will help prevent another disastrous government shutdown. While not perfect, this budget agreement will finally allow Congress to work on this yea… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Introduce Bill To Reform American Infrastructure Investment

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), along with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and U.S. Representative Karen Bass (D-CA-37), announced new landmark legislation to make bold reforms to federal infrastructure programs that would help create jobs, rebuild the country, and work to right the wrongs of decades of disinvestment and exclusionary federal policies that have cut off communities of color. The Build Local, Hire Local Act would ensure that federal infr… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Introduce Resolution To Protect People With Pre-existing Conditions

WASHINGTON- U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today joined Senate and House Democrats to unveil a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution that would roll back the 1332 waiver rule, another Trump Administration effort to sabotage Americans' health care and another attack on the 130 million Americans-including approximately five million Illinoisans-who rely on the critical pre-existing condition protections the Administration is trying to eliminate. The Trump rule, if … Continue Reading

Durbin, Menendez Meet With Venezuela Special Envoy Elliot Abrams

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ) today met with Venezuela Special Envoy Elliot Abrams to discuss the ongoing violence, deteriorating security situation, and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela caused by the discredited regime of Nicolás Maduro. They also discussed legislation to designate Venezuela for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and protect approximately 200,000 Venezuelan nationals in the United States from deportation. "In today's meeting, I rei… Continue Reading

Durbin, Leahy, Booker Introduce Legislation To Ban The Death Penalty

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Cory Booker (D-NJ), all members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today introduced legislation to immediately ban the use of the death penalty by the federal government. The legislation comes after Attorney General (AG) William Barr's announcement that federal executions will resume for the first time in more than 16 years. While there have been only three federal executions in the last five decades, AG Barr has ordered th… Continue Reading

Durbin Calls On McConnell To End Legislative Graveyard & Protect Our Elections From Foreign Interference

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee, today called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to end his legislative graveyard and bring comprehensive election security bills to the floor. In a speech on the Senate floor, Durbin noted that one of the most important takeaways from Special Counsel Mueller's report is that Russia was able to successfully attack our democracy in 2016. Page one of the Mueller report … Continue Reading