Durbin Statement On Damning Report Finding Continued Widespread FBI Mishandling of Child Sexual Abuse Investigations Following Larry Nassar Case

CHICAGO – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement after the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a damning report on its audit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) compliance with policies in child sexual abuse investigations. The DOJ OIG audit was conducted in response to a request from Durbin and a bipartisan group of Senate Judiciary Committee members in 2021. “The FB… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth, Budzinski Secure Funding For Disaster Preparedness In Illinois

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 $118,945 in funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s (NIFA) Smith-Lever Special Needs Competitive Grants Program going to the University of Illinois.   The Smith-Lever Special Needs Competitive Grants Program supports innovative, education-based approaches to address disaster preparedn… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Announce $57 Million In Funding For Elementary School On North Chicago Naval Base

CHICAGO - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced the award of a $57,701,575 grant to North Chicago School District 187 at Naval Station Great Lakes, Illinois from the Department of Defense (DoD). The project will address facility capacity and condition deficiencies at Forrestal Elementary School. Upon completion, 580 kindergarten through fifth grade students will be supported through the project. Funding for this grant is provided un… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Announce More Than $1 Million In Funding To Address Lead In Drinking Water

SPRINGFIELD — U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), founding member and co-founder respectively of the Senate Lead Task Force, today announced that Illinois will receive $1,093,000 to address lead in drinking water at schools and childcare facilities through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). These federal grant dollars will reduce lead exposure where children learn and play, maximizing the investment by impacting more members of the c… Continue Reading

Durbin Calls Out The Hypocrisy Of Vance's Inflammatory Comments About The City Of Chicago

CHICAGO – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today called out the hypocrisy of Senator J.D. Vance’s (R-OH) inflammatory comments about the City of Chicago while he simultaneously blocks the confirmation of federal prosecutors, including the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. For months, Durbin repeatedly went to the Senate floor to request unanimous consent (UC) to schedule confirmation votes on two U.S. Attorney nominations that… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Applaud Lowered Prices Of 10 Medicare-Covered Prescription Drugs

SPRINGFIELD – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today applauded the Biden-Harris Administration for its efforts to negotiate price reductions for 10 of the most expensive and frequently-dispensed drugs in the Medicare program.  The Inflation Reduction Act, which Durbin and Duckworth both strongly advocated for, provided the Biden-Harris Administration with the authority to negotiate the drug prices with Big Pharma, resulting in price reductions … Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Announce $1.5 Million In Funding To Modernize Homes For Illinois Families

SPRINGFIELD — U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced $1.5 million in federal funding through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to finance energy efficient and climate resilient improvements for affordable homes in Illinois under the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program (GRRP).  Funded under the Inflation Reduction Act, GRRP provides funding for direct loans and grants to make improvements to HUD-subsidized pr… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Announce $32.6 Million In Federal Funding For Cancer Research At University Of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

SPRINGFIELD - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced $32.6 million in federal funding for cancer research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. This funding, through the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) Precision Surgical Interventions program, will go towards inventing new imaging techniques to enhance cancer treatments by allowing surgeons to remove all microscopic cancer cells that remain before the … Continue Reading

Durbin Presses Defense Secretary Austin On Decision To Revoke Guilty Plea Deal For Accused September 11th Plotters

SPRINGFIELD – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, pressed U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin today on his decision to revoke a long-sought guilty plea deal between prosecutors and defendants accused of perpetrating the attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001. Secretary Austin revoked the deal two days after it was announced despite two years of negotiations, a move that frustrated victims’ families and put them through emotio… Continue Reading

Durbin, Klobuchar, Welch, Lead Colleagues In Urging Justice Department To Protect Election Workers Ahead Of 2024 Election

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Peter Welch (D-VT) led a group of 19 Senate colleagues in sending a letter to Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco urging the Department of Justice to take further action to counter threats targeting election workers ahead of the upcoming election.  “We write to express serious concern about ongoing and persistent t… Continue Reading

Durbin Joins Sangamon County Child Advocacy Center To Urge Online Safety Measures For Children

SPRINGFIELD – Today, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, joined the Sangamon County Child Advocacy Center (SCCAC) to discuss the importance of keeping kids safe online through bills like Durbin’s STOP CSAM Act and last month’s Senate passage of the Kids Online Safety and Privacy Act. The SCCAC coordinates services for victims of child sexual abuse in Logan, Sangamon, Christian, and Menard counties. It follows the national Children’s Advocacy Center model o… Continue Reading

Durbin Meets With Illinois Pork Producers Association In Springfield

SPRINGFIELD – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, today met with the Illinois Pork Producers Association to discuss the effects of California’s Proposition 12 on the economics of the pork industry and challenges associated with workforce shortages.  Durbin and Chad Lehman, third-generation farmer from Woodford County and past President of Illinois Pork Producers, also spoke about the Senate’s work on the Farm Bil… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth, Illinois Delegation Members Push USDA To Boost Farm Conservation Funds For Illinois

SPRINGFIELD – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and U.S. Representatives Nikki Budzinski (D-IL-13), Eric Sorensen (D-IL-17), and Jonathan Jackson (D-IL-01), all members of the House Committee on Agriculture, led members of the Illinois delegation in sending a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Thomas Vilsack to express concerns about the low level of f… Continue Reading

Durbin Admonishes Amtrak For Offering Inadequate Replacement Service For Quincy-Chicago Riders While Train Service Is Suspended

CHICAGO – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today sent a letter to Stephen Gardner, CEO of Amtrak, to express his frustration at the suspension of one of two Amtrak roundtrips between Quincy, Illinois, and Chicago as a result of equipment shortages.  In his letter, Durbin called on Amtrak to resolve the suspension, which could last up to August 27, as quickly as possible.  The affected stops along the partly suspended Chicago-Quincy Carl Sandburg Amtrak route include Macomb, Galesburg… Continue Reading

Durbin Joins Warren To Urge Navient To Reform Flawed Process To Cancel Student Loans Pushed Onto Borrowers Attending Fraudulent, For-Profit Colleges

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today joined U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), U.S. Representatives Madeleine Dean (D-PA-04), Danny Davis (D-IL-07), Delia Ramirez (D-IL-03), and 30 lawmakers in sending a letter urging student loan servicer Navient to reform its flawed process to cancel the private student loans of borrowers who attended fraudulent, for-profit colleges. The lawmakers argued that ??under the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Holder Rule and due to Navien… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Announce $15.9 Million In Funding For Clean Manufacturing In Illinois

CHICAGO – Today, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) announced $15.9 million in funding from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) coming to Illinois through the Inflation Reduction Act to support efforts to report and reduce climate pollution from the manufacturing of construction materials and products. These awards from the Inflation Reduction Act—the largest climate investment in history—will reduce climate pollution by helping Illinois b… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Announce $15.9 Million In Funding For Clean Manufacturing In Illinois

CHICAGO – Today, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) announced $15.9 million in funding from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) coming to Illinois through the Inflation Reduction Act to support efforts to report and reduce climate pollution from the manufacturing of construction materials and products. These awards from the Inflation Reduction Act—the largest climate investment in history—will reduce climate pollution by helping Illinois b… Continue Reading

Durbin Join Ribbon Cutting For Latest Completed Segment Of Springfield Rail Improvements Project

SPRINGFIELD – Today, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined Illinois Department of Transportation Secretary Omer Osman and local leaders for a ribbon cutting of the newly constructed underpasses at Madison and Jefferson streets, the latest milestone for the Springfield Rail Improvements Project (SRIP).  In December 2021, Durbin announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation had awarded a $13.5 million Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant to the Ci… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Join Booker, Warnock, Butler, Colleagues To Announce Reintroduction of George Floyd Justice In Policing Act

WASHINGTON –  U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Rev. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Laphonza Butler (D-CA), Ed Markey (D-MA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Alex Padilla (D-CA), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to announce the reintroduction ofthe George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2024, the most comprehensive bill to reform law enforcement and strengthen police accountability in … Continue Reading

Senate Appropriations Committee Advances Spending Bills With Illinois Priorities Secured By Durbin, Duckworth

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) announced that the Senate Appropriations Committee advanced funding bills for Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies; Defense; Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies; and Financial Services and General Government for Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25).  Durbin and Duckworth worked to secure various priorities for Illino… Continue Reading