Durbin: ISAC Will Not Charge Fees To Students Who Rehabilitate Loans Within 60 Days of Default

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement after the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) announced it would not charge high collection fees to Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) borrowers who enter loan rehabilitation within sixty days of defaulting on their student loans. The announcement was made after the U.S. Department of Education withdrew guidance issued by the Obama Administration prohibiting guaranty agencies from charging borrowers fees of… Continue Reading

New Durbin Report Breaks Down Impacts of Republican Health Care Repeal in 18 Illinois Congressional Districts

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today released a report titled "TrumpCare: Less for More, An Analysis of the Impact of Repealing the Affordable Care Act on Illinois," which details what Illinois stands to lose if President Trump and Congressional Republicans are successful in passing their legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). After requesting information from every hospital, public health department, and major medical society in the state, the report summarizes how the… Continue Reading

Durbin Meets With MWRD To Express Continued Support For McCook Reservoir

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today met with members of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) to express his continued support for the construction and funding of the McCook Reservoir Project. Durbin, along with Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) recently pressed the Army Corps for strong and continued support for the construction of the McCook Reservoir Project in a letter to Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army Dou… Continue Reading

Durbin Remarks At Defense Appropriations Hearing With Sec. Mattis, Gen. Dunford

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, made the following opening remarks at a hearing on the Fiscal Year 2017 Defense Supplemental with Secretary of Defense James Mattis and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford: Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to join you in welcoming Secretary Mattis and General Dunford. I have tremendous respect for both of these outstanding leaders, and I give a special welcome to Se… Continue Reading

Durbin: Gorsuch Lowered The Bar For Rights Of Students With Disabilities

WASHINGTON - During the third day of confirmation hearings for Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, raised serious concerns about Judge Gorsuch's record of ruling against students with disabilities. Senator Durbin pressed the 10th Circuit judge to explain why he ruled to deny a child with severe autism access to the educational services to which he was legally entitled under the Ind… Continue Reading

Durbin: Gorsuch Has A Troubling Record Of Ruling Against Workers And Families

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today raised concerns about the selection process and record of President Donald Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge Neil Gorsuch, during the first day of his confirmation hearings. In his remarks to the committee, Durbin recalled rulings in which Judge Gorsuch sided with corporations over people, including the case of truck driver Alphonse Madden, who was fired after refusing to stay with his broke… Continue Reading

Durbin Statement On Republican Rewrite Of Health Care Repeal Bill

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement today after House Republican leadership released changes to their health care repeal legislation aimed at garnering support from a handful of new members of their conference: "The last minute revisions made behind closed doors make a bad bill even worse. Larding Trumpcare up with political giveaways and kickbacks only means higher costs and less health care for seniors, hardworking families, and rural prov… Continue Reading

Durbin Grills Scotus Nominee Gorsuch On Labor, Human Rights And Civil Rights Record

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today grilled President Donald Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge Neil Gorsuch, regarding his dubious record on civil and workers' rights. Durbin asked the nominee to cite specific examples to justify his claims that, as judge, he's stood up for the rights of minorities, women, and LGBT Americans. "What you said earlier was that you have a record of speaking out, standing up for those minorities wh… Continue Reading

Durbin Statement On FBI Investigation Of Trump’s Russian Connections

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement on the testimony of FBI Director James Comey before the House Intelligence Committee: Director Comey confirmed that the FBI is investigating possible criminal collusion between officials with President Trump's campaign and the Russian government. We need a special prosecutor to pursue any criminal charges and a bipartisan, independent commission to investigate this outrage.… Continue Reading

Durbin, Davis Introduce New Legislation to Support Children Traumatized by Community Violence

CHICAGO - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin and U.S. Representative Danny Davis today unveiled the Trauma Informed Care for Children and Families Act, which is designed to address the toxic stress and trauma that impacts many children from Chicago's most violent neighborhoods. "As we work to address the root causes of violence, we need to focus on the impact that community violence and other traumatic experiences have on Chicago's children," said Durbin. "During a visit to the Cook County Juvenile … Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Announce More Than $1 Million For Chicago Community Health Centers

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded two community health centers in Chicago a total of $1,336,564 through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Health Center Program. Community health centers are community-based organizations that improve access to affordable, high-quality health care in underserved urban and rural communities by integrating primary heal… Continue Reading

Senators Call for Investigation of Sebastian Gorka After Reports Surface of Ties to Neo-Nazi Group

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Ben Cardin (D-MD) today called on the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice to investigate whether senior White House counterterrorism advisor Dr. Sebastian Gorka falsified his U.S. naturalization application by failing to disclose his membership in a Hungarian neo-Nazi organization. According to the Forward, leaders of the Historical Vitézi Rend have identified Dr. Gorka as a member of the organization w… Continue Reading

Durbin: GOP Health Care Repeal Bill Hurts Older Illinoisans

CHICAGO - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today discussed the impact of Congressional Republicans' plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and how it would particularly hurt those nearing retirement age, as well as seniors. Last week, GOP leaders unveiled their ACA repeal bill and three House Committees have approved the bill along party line votes. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the GOP bill would result in 14 million people losing their health plans next … Continue Reading

Durbin Statement on Medical Research Funding in President's Budget

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), co-chair of the Senate's bipartisan NIH caucus and a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released the following statement on funding cuts for federal agencies that conduct medical research included in the President's FY2018 budget request: "America's best scientists and researchers should spend their time finding ways to treat and cure diseases, not worrying about their budgets. President Trump's budget would gut NIH's budget by a whopping… Continue Reading

Durbin, Grassley Bill Will Require Supreme Court To Allow Cameras In The Courtroom

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, introduced legislation today to require open proceedings of the Supreme Court to be televised. The bipartisan Cameras in the Courtroom Act of 2017 would require the Supreme Court to permit television coverage of all open sessions of the Court, unless the Court decides, by a majority vote of the Justices, that doing so would constitute a violation of the… Continue Reading

Durbin Statement on President Trump's Budget Request

CHICAGO - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today released the following statement after President Donald Trump submitted his first budget request to Congress: "President Trump's budget is terrible economic policy and would be a disaster for America. Slashing funding for the things American families need most, like affordable housing, home heating, early childhood education, roads and bridges, and medical research and development, w… Continue Reading

Durbin: Russia Has Been Refining Its Cyber Warfare Tactics For A Decade, Now It’s Using Them Against America

WASHINGTON - Amidst mounting scrutiny of Russia's interference in the 2016 election, the Senate Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism held its first hearing of the year to discuss Russia's tactics for undermining democracy around the world. U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, a member of the subcommittee, questioned expert witnesses, including Heather Conley, author of "The Kremlin Playbook," on Russia's tactics to hack, spy, and lie their way to global dominance. Durbin pressed the witnesses on how the Uni… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Announce $82,000 In Federal Funding For Rural Community Development Throughout Illinois

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced $82,000 in federal funding for projects in Williamson, Carroll, Brown, and Massac Counties to support rural community development projects. Today's funding, provided through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), will provide assistance to purchase new police vehicles in Hurst, Illinois, complete handicap accessibility improvements in Lanark, Illinois' city park, purchase a fully-equipped, four-wheel dr… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Announce More Than $6 Million For Head Start Programs In Illinois

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced that the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Administration for Children and Families has awarded a total of $6,273,956 to support Head Start and Early Head Start programs across Illinois. "The Head Start program is the source of countless success stories in Illinois and around the country-it's a stepping stone children need to succeed from elementary school to college and beyond," said Durbin. "… Continue Reading

Durbin, Senate Steering Committee Discuss Transparency In A Post-Truth Presidency

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement after taking part in a Senate Democratic Steering Committee roundtable discussion on dark money, corruption, and conflicts of interest under the Trump Administration. As part of "Sunshine Week," a national initiative to raise awareness about the importance of open government and freedom of information, Democratic senators heard from policy experts and advocates of open government. "At this pivotal moment in our history… Continue Reading