Durbin Questions District Court Nominees At Latest Judiciary Committee Nominations Hearing

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today questioned Loren AliKhan, nominated to be United States District Judge for the District of Columbia; Susan DeClercq, nominated to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Michigan; Julia Munley, nominated to be United States District Judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania; and Vernon Oliver, nominated to be United States District Judge for the District of Connecticu… Continue Reading

Durbin Delivers Opening Statement During Judiciary Committee Hearing On District Court Nominations

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today delivered an opening statement at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the nominations of Loren AliKhan, to be United States District Judge for the District of Columbia; Susan DeClercq, to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Michigan; Julia Munley, to be United States District Judge for the Middle District of Pennsylvania; and Vernon Oliver, to be United States D… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Announce $34 Million For Variety Of Illinois Health Care Programs And Initiatives

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced $34,248,791 million in U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) grants to support a variety of health care programs, initiatives, and community projects across the state. "This federal funding will help Illinois fortify its diverse array of health care programs that are dedicated to safeguarding the well-being of our residents," said Durbin. "From efforts to prevent infect… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Announce $13 Million For Head Start Programs In Illinois

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced a total of $13,306,253 in U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) grants to support Head Start services for children under the age of five in receiving wrap-around support in early learning and development. "This significant federal investment lays the groundwork for a lifetime of achievement for our children, bolstering their early learning, health, and overall well-be… Continue Reading

Durbin, Marshall, Welch, Vance Introduce Bipartisan Credit Card Competition Act

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senators Roger Marshall, M.D. (R-KS), Peter Welch (D-VT), and J.D. Vance (R-OH) today introduced the bipartisan, bicameral Credit Card Competition Act of 2023, legislation that would enhance competition and choice in the credit card network market which is currently dominated by the Visa-Mastercard duopoly.  Building off of debit card competition reforms enacted by Congress in 2010, the b… Continue Reading

Durbin Fires Back After Harlan Crow Refuses To Voluntarily Cooperate With Information Requests Regarding Gifts To Justice Thomas

WASHINGTON - In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, fired back after receiving a letter from a law firm representing Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow refusing to share key information regarding gifts and travel given to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. "Sadly, he [Harlan Crow]'s made it clear that he refuses to voluntarily cooperate. Harlan Crow has based this refusal on a dangerous, undemocratic argument t… Continue Reading

Durbin Marks 10th Anniversary Of Hadiya Pendleton’s Death, Calls Out Republicans For Attempts To Dismantle Existing Gun Safety Laws

WASHINGTON - In a speech on the Senate floor today, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, marked the 10th anniversary of the death of Chicago teenager Hadiya Pendleton, who was shot and killed outside a park on the South Side when she was only 15 years old. Stressing that gun deaths like Hadiya's are far too common in America, Durbin went on to denounce Republican efforts to weaken gun safety laws. "It was ten years ago roughly when the [second… Continue Reading

Durbin Calls On The Administration To Grant Tps To Recent Venezuelan Migrants

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) spoke on the Senate floor urging the Biden Administration to grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for recent Venezuelans fleeing dire conditions in their home country. Last month, Durbin met with opposition leader and former interim President of Venezuela Juan Guaidó, who recently fled Venezuela for his and his young family's safety. Durbin noted the extreme conditions that Venezuelans, including those he recently met in Chicag… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth, Democratic Members Of Illinois Delegation Again Urge Census Bureau To Correct Illinois Undercount In Its Ongoing Population Estimates

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), along with the 14 Democratic members of the Illinois delegation, today sent a follow-up letter to U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Santos urging him to account for the estimated undercount of Illinoisans in the 2020 Decennial Census as the Census Bureau prepares to release its annual Population Estimate. In the Census Bureau's Post-Enumeration Survey (PES) that was released last May, Illinois wa… Continue Reading

Durbin, Whitehouse Statement On Harlan Crow’s Continued Refusal To Provide Key Information Regarding Gifts And Travel Given To Justice Thomas

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights, released the following statement after receiving a letter from a law firm representing Republican mega-donor Harlan Crow refusing to share key information regarding gifts and travel given to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The letter… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth, Garcia, Ramirez Announce $8 Million For Rail Safety In Franklin Park

CHICAGO - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), U.S. Representative Jesús G. "Chuy" García (D-IL-4), and U.S. Representative Delia C. Ramirez (D-IL-3) today announced $8 million in funding through the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant Program for Franklin Park, Illinois, to complete project development and final design for a grade separation of Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) and Kansas City Sou… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth, Budzinski Announce $16 Million For Rail Safety In Decatur

CHICAGO - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and U.S. Representative Nikki Budzinski (D-IL-13) today announced $16 million in funding through the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant Program for Decatur, Illinois, to improve rail connectivity by supporting construction activities to upgrade 1.21 miles of Brush College Road. This project will create a new grade separation structure, permanently close two exis… Continue Reading

Durbin, Hospital Leaders Release Year 4 Report on Chicago HEAL Initiative to Address Gun Violence

CHICAGO – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today joined hospital leaders and the Illinois Health and Hospital Association (IHA) to unveil the four-year reportof the Chicago HEAL Initiative. Launched in 2018 by Senator Durbin and 10 of the largest hospitals serving Chicago, the HEAL Initiative is a collaboration to address the root causes of gun violence through economic, health, and community projects in 18 of Chicago’s neighborhoods with the highest rates of violence, poverty, and health dispari… Continue Reading

Durbin, Kelly, Duckworth Introduce Bicameral “Wear Orange” Resolution In Observance Of National Gun Violence Awareness Month

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Representative Robin Kelly (D-IL-02), along with U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), introduced theWear Orange Resolution, which supports the designation of June 2, 2023, as "National Gun Violence Awareness Day" and June 2023 as "National Gun Violence Awareness Month." Each year, more than 43,000 people in the United States are killed, and 76,000 are injured by gun violence. June 2 … Continue Reading

Durbin Votes For Bipartisan Debt Ceiling Agreement To Avoid First Ever Default On Our Nation’s Debt

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today released the following statement after the U.S. Senate passed the Fiscal Responsibility Act-preventing the first-ever default on our national debt. The legislation now heads to the President's desk for his signature. "Thankfully, Congress has once again performed its constitutional duty and prevented a first-ever default on our national debt. Defaulting on our national debt is un… Continue Reading

Durbin Statement On Senate Vote To Overturn President Biden’s Student Debt Relief Plan

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today released the following statement after the Senate voted in favor of H.J. Resolution 45, which would overturn President Biden's student debt relief plan to cancel up to $10,000 for non-Pell-eligible borrowers and up to $20,000 for Pell-eligible borrowers: "Tens of millions of Americans are plagued by student loan debt. Working families, particularly in communities of color, are buried in so much student debt that they can't afford … Continue Reading

Ahead Of Debt Limit Vote, Durbin Continues To Call For Closure Of Guantanamo Bay

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today spoke on the Senate floor about the importance of closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility. Durbin began his speech by highlighting the unnecessary cost Guantanamo Bay has forced American taxpayers to fund. During his speech, Durbin called out Republicans for their message of "fiscal responsibility" ahead of the debt limit vote, but their unwillingness to close Guantanamo Bay, which c… Continue Reading

Durbin: Senate Must Quickly Pass Bipartisan Debt Ceiling Agreement To Avoid First Ever Default On Our Nation’s Debt

WASHINGTON - In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today urged his colleagues to perform their constitutional duties by quickly passing the Fiscal Responsibility Act and preventing a first-ever default on our national debt. The bipartisan agreement avoids a default on our national debt, maintains funding for clean energy incentives, protects student debt relief for millions of borrowers, and beats back ext… Continue Reading

Durbin Urges Military Leaders To Extend Recruitment Efforts To DACA Recipients

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, today participated in a Subcommittee hearing entitled "A Review of the President's Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request for the National Guard and Reserve." During the hearing, Durbin questioned the witness, General Daniel R. Hokanson, Chief of the National Guard Bureau, on the Guard's recruitment efforts as the military as a whole faces recruitment and retention issues and furth… Continue Reading

Senate Judiciary Committee Advances Bipartisan Bill To Protect Children From Online Sexual Exploitation

WASHINGTON - Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance the REPORT Act, a bipartisan bill by Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Jon Ossoff (D-GA) that would strengthen the CyberTipline run by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) to report online child sexual exploitation, which received over 32 million reports last year. On today's vote, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said: "I've said since the b… Continue Reading