Press Releases
Currently showing results related to Energy and the Environment
Durbin, Rounds Introduce Bipartisan Legislation To Retain International Graduates With Advanced STEM Degrees
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) today introduced bipartisan legislation that would streamline the path for advanced Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) international graduates who studied at our nation’s universities to remain in the United States. Last year, nearly half of U.S. graduate students in key fields such as artificial intelligence (AI) and … Continue Reading
April 01, 2025
Durbin Meets With Argonne National Lab Director As Trump Administration Threatens Future Of Scientific Research
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today met with Dr. Paul Kearns, Director of Argonne National Laboratory to discuss the future of scientific research as the Trump Administration takes aim at federal research institutions. During their meeting, Durbin and Dr. Kearns spoke about the disastrous impact of the Trump Administration’s funding cuts and freezes to scientific research. Durbin and Dr. Kearns also discussed Illinois’ position as a leader in quantum computing … Continue Reading
March 12, 2025
Durbin Meets With Renewable Fuels Association
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, today met with members of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) to discuss federal actions needed to help ethanol production in Illinois and nationally. Durbin has been a long-time supporter of biofuels production in Illinois. Attending the meeting was a representative from Big River Resources, which operates an ethanol plant in Galva, Illinois. “Today, I sat … Continue Reading
February 26, 2025
Durbin Exposes Trump's Phony "Energy Emergency," Which Will Only Cut American Jobs And Enrich Big Oil Billionaires
WASHINGTON - In a speech on the Senate floor today, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) disparaged the Trump Administration’s fabricated “energy emergency,” which President Trump declared in a vile effort to use additional presidential authority to fast-track the construction of oil pipelines and drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, among many other pro-fossil fuel projects. The false emergency is a thinly veiled effort to appease President Trump’s wealthy donors at the expense of the … Continue Reading
February 26, 2025
Durbin Talks Transformers, Clean Energy With IMEA/IMUA
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today met with members of the Illinois Municipal Electric/Utilities Association (IMEA/IMUA) to discuss clean energy tax credits and addressing the supply chain issues that have led to a shortage of transformers, which are an essential component of electrical infrastructure that adjusts the voltage of currents moving through electrical wires. Due to a sluggish supply chain, building sectors and utilities are grappling with an … Continue Reading
February 07, 2025
Durbin, Duckworth Join Colleagues To Demand Answers About Trump's Efforts To Restrict & Undermine NSF-Funded Scientific Research
WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), along with 22 of their colleagues, in sounding the alarm over the Trump Administration injecting partisanship into scientific studies, obstructing critical research, potentially derailing the careers of promising American researchers, and attempting to undermine the U.S. scientific research ecosystem. With several major sources of federal research … Continue Reading
January 03, 2025
Durbin, Duckworth Announce $856 Million In Federal Funding For Disaster Relief In Illinois
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced $856,307,000 in federal funding through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to support communities in Illinois with unmet disaster recovery needs that were majorly impacted by disasters that occurred in 2023 and 2024. “Over the past two years, Illinois communities have experienced their share of major disasters and have worked tirelessly to recover,” said … Continue Reading
December 19, 2024
Durbin, Duckworth, Foster Celebrate Passage Of Resolution To Name Fermilab Research Center After Renowned Physicist Dr. Helen Edwards
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and U.S. Representative Bill Foster (D-IL-11) today applauded the House and Senate passage of their bicameral resolution, included in the Water Resources Development Act of 2024, to rename Fermilab’s Integrated Engineering Research Center (IERC) after the late Dr. Helen Edwards, who worked at Fermilab as a particle physicist for 40 years. The IERC is home to new office and lab space that hosts an … Continue Reading
December 19, 2024
Durbin, Duckworth, Stabenow, Peters Secure Increase In Federal Cost Share To Help Protect The Great Lakes In Final 2024 Water Resources Development Act
WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), and U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) lauded the inclusion of their provision to increase the federal cost share for the Brandon Road Project in the Water Resources Development Act of 2024 (WRDA), which passed the Senate last night. Under the provision, the federal government will pay 90 percent of the operation and maintenance costs for Brandon Road after … Continue Reading
December 19, 2024
Durbin, Duckworth Secure Illinois Wins In Water Resources Development Act
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Environmental Justice Caucus, and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), founding Co-Chair of the Senate’s first-ever Environmental Justice Caucus, today highlighted several critical provisions they successfully secured for Illinois in the bipartisan Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2024, which passed the Senate and will head to President Biden’s desk. These provisions - ranging from adjusting the cost share for … Continue Reading
November 14, 2024
Durbin Duckworth Announce $31.9 Million In Federal Funding For Low Carbon Construction Materials
WASHINGTON ? U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced $31,933,577 in federal funding through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Fiscal Year 2022 Low Carbon Transportation Materials Grants Program. Administered by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the Illinois Department of Transportation will receive this federal funding to implement and use low carbon materials on Federal-aid construction projects … Continue Reading
November 12, 2024
Durbin, Duckworth Announce More Than $192 Million To Help Illinois Families Save On Home Energy Bills
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced $192,607,773 in federal funding through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) to help Illinoisans afford the rising cost of home heating bills this winter. This announcement includes funding appropriated from the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which Durbin and Duckworth both supported. “In the … Continue Reading
May 31, 2024
Durbin, Duckworth Join Senate Democrats To Call On DOJ To Immediately Launch Full Court Press Against Big Oil To Prevent And Prosecute Collusion And Price Fixing
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today joined Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and 20 Democratic Senators in sending a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Jonathan Kanter calling on the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to use every tool at its disposal to prevent and prosecute collusion and price fixing in the oil industry. The letter follows a Federal Trade … Continue Reading
May 30, 2024
Durbin, Duckworth Announce That Illinois School Districts Will Receive $48.4 Million In Rebates For EPA Clean School Bus Program
SPRINGFIELD - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) announced that 28 Illinois school districts will receive significant rebates, a combined total of more than $48 million, from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2023 Clean School Bus Program (CSBP) rebate competition. The program, a $5 billion effort established under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, aims to convert the nation’s school bus fleets to low- or zero-emission … Continue Reading
May 23, 2024
Durbin, Casten Introduce Legislation To Incentivize Energy Conservation For Additional Consumer Savings
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Congressman Sean Casten (D-IL-06) today introduced the Responsive Energy Demand Unlocks Clean Energy (REDUCE) Act, legislation that would allow consumers to sell their energy use reduction into federal wholesale electricity markets by eliminating the “Opt Out” currently employed by 13 states that fully or partially ban “aggregated demand response” from these markets. “Incentivizing consumers to sell their energy reductions … Continue Reading
May 21, 2024
Durbin, Duckworth Announce $17.8 Million In EPA Grant Funding To Clean And Redevelop Contaminated Illinois Sites
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Environmental Justice Caucus, and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Environmental Justice Caucus, announced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded 10 grants, totaling $17,833,610, to Illinois communities to assess, clean, and redevelop “brownfield” contaminated waste sites. Brownfields are properties upon which expansion, redevelopment, or reuse is complicated by the … Continue Reading
April 26, 2023
Durbin Introduces America's Red Rock Wilderness Act To Protect Wilderness Lands In Utah
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today reintroduced the America's Red Rock Wilderness Act to protect more than eight million acres of land in Utah that is rich in archaeological resources and home to numerous rare plant and animal species. These landscapes are also the access point for many national parks and offer unparalleled research, educational, and recreational opportunities for scientists, educators, outdoor enthusiasts, and American families. "The America's … Continue Reading
September 16, 2022
Durbin Visits Quincy Bay, Discusses Restoration Project
QUINCY - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today visited Quincy Bay, one of the largest natural bays of the Upper Mississippi River, to discuss its restoration project. This project aims to reverse the impact of sedimentation and erosion at Quincy Bay to improve the quality and diversity of waterfowl, fish, and wildlife populations, aquatic and forest habitat, and other ecologically significant features such as water depth and wetlands.Durbin pushed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to include … Continue Reading
August 31, 2022
Durbin, Duckworth, Illinois Delegation Urge President Biden To Grant FEMA Individual Assistance To Metro East Following Flash Floods
SPRINGFIELD - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), along with the entire Illinois Congressional delegation, sent a letter to President Biden requesting that Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provide federal assistance to the State of Illinois to help St. Clair County respond to significant damage from the flash floods on July 26. "We write in support of Illinois Governor JB Pritzker's request for federal assistance for the State of … Continue Reading
August 15, 2022
Durbin Addresses Impact Of Flooding In Cahokia Heights And East St. Louis
CAHOKIA HEIGHTS - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today held a news conference with local officials to discuss the impact of flooding in the region after record-breaking storms late last month displaced residents with more than nine inches of rain falling in two days-an amount that would normally fall in a 75-day span. Prior to today's new conference, Senator Durbin met with residents impacted by chronic flooding in Cahokia Heights and also visited sites in East St. Louis damaged by recent … Continue Reading