Durbin, King, Smith, Sinema Secure $7 Million For Competitive Grants Supporting Open Textbooks In Year-End Funding Bill

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Angus King (I-ME), Tina Smith (D-MN), and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) today applauded the inclusion of $7 million in additional funding and report language for the continued implementation of the Open Textbooks Pilot in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 appropriations bill - a $2 million increase from FY19. The Open Textbooks Pilot, based on the Senators' Affordable College Textbook Act, is a competitive grant program to support the creation and expand the use o… Continue Reading

Durbin Announces $5 Million In New Rural EMS Funding In Year-End Funding Bill

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and Senate Appropriations Committee, today announced the inclusion of $5 million in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 appropriations bill for a new grant program that supports rural fire and emergency medical services (EMS). The funding, created through Durbin's Supporting and Improving Rural EMS Needs (SIREN) Act, supports EMS agencies in training and recruiting staff, conducting certification courses, and purcha… Continue Reading

Durbin, Cramer, Smith Applaud Inclusion Of Bill To Lower Cost Of Insulin For Patients In Year-End Funding Bill

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), and Tina Smith (D-MN) today applauded the inclusion in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 appropriations bill of their Affordable Insulin Approvals Now Act, a bipartisan bill to speed up approvals of lower-cost, generic insulin products in order to help reduce prices of this life-saving medication for patients. Approximately 7.5 million Americans with diabetes rely on insulin every day to survive, yet the drug has experienced a price in… Continue Reading

Durbin, Members of Illinois Congressional Delegation Press EPA Administrator Wheeler On Ethylene Oxide Emissions

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation today pressed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler about their concerns about ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions at the Medline and Vantage facilities in Lake County. In a meeting with Administrator Wheeler, Durbin pushed for a timeline of regulatory actions by the U.S. EPA, and called on Administrator Wheeler to protect the U.S. EPA's Integrated Risk Information System … Continue Reading

Durbin Statement On Affordable Care Act Federal Appeals Court Ruling

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today released the following statement after a federal appeals court ruled on the lawsuit backed by President Donald Trump and Republican attorneys generals that the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) individual mandate is unconstitutional. The court did not reach a decision whether to invalidate the entire ACA and ordered a lower court to provide additional analysis on that question. "Today's decision means that Americans' health care remains… Continue Reading

Durbin Announces Bipartisan Agreement To Help Immigrant Workers Stuck In The Green Card Backlog

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, today joined Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) on the Senate floor to announce their bipartisan agreement to amend Lee's Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act. "Senator Lee and I have reached a bipartisan agreement on what we think is a reasonable approach… these families affected by this backlog are really going through hardship and concerns that no family should face. … Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Help Secure Illinois Miners' Pensions And Health Care Coverage In Year-End Funding Bill

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced that the Fiscal Year 2020 appropriations bill will protect miners' pensions and health care coverage for retirees impacted by 2018 and 2019 mine bankruptcies. The Bipartisan American Miners Act, included in the final funding package, secures lifetime health care benefits for the 13,000 miners who would have lost their benefits entirely and the 92,000 miners who would have seen their pensions gutted next year… Continue Reading

Durbin And Krishnamoorthi Introduce Bipartisan Bill To Create Youth-Vaping Prevention Programs In Schools

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-08) today introduced the Providing Resources to End the Vaping Epidemic Now for Teenagers (PREVENT) Act, a bipartisan and bicameral bill with Representative Peter King (R-NY-02) that will create youth vaping prevention programs in schools and provide resources to help teachers and administrators combat skyrocketing youth e-cigarette use. "With more than five million children now using e-cigarettes, th… Continue Reading

Durbin: Raising Federal Tobacco Age Is A Good Step, But Does Not Address Youth Vaping Epidemic

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today in a speech on the Senate floor addressed the Tobacco to 21 (T21) provision included in the Fiscal Year 2020 appropriations bill. Durbin, who introduced the Tobacco to 21 Act this April and is a longtime supporter of the policy, expressed his concern that the T21 provision, on its own, does not address the youth vaping epidemic. Durbin, who was prevented from including real reforms in the appropriations bill that would help reduce… Continue Reading

Durbin Statement On Senate Passage Of NDAA

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, today released the following statement after voting for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes a proposal to extend lease authorities at arsenals such as Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois: "The Senate's passage of the NDAA shows that we are all committed to a strong national defense and to the protection of our women and men in … Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Help Veteran Receive Benefits After Being Denied Assistance

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), along with Congressman Dan Kildee (D-MI-05), today announced that a Flint-native and decorated Navy veteran, retired Senior Chief Russell Dotson, will receive tens of thousands of dollars of G.I. Bill higher education benefits owed to his family after the U.S. Navy denied this assistance because of a bureaucratic paperwork mistake. The acting Secretary of the Navy, Thomas Modly, has indicated to Durbin, Duckworth, Kildee, a… Continue Reading

Durbin, Maloney Introduce Legislation To Expand Family Leave Protections

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY-12), Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, today introduced legislation that would bring the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) into the 21st Century. The Family Medical Leave Modernization Act will guarantee small necessities leave and make important updates to the definition of family to ensure a broader range of caregiving relationships are covered by FMLA's protections. … Continue Reading

Durbin: We Need A Comprehensive, Smart, And Effective Approach To Opioid Addiction

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today, in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing addressing the opioid epidemic, slammed the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for inadequate oversight and accountability of Big Pharma's role in fueling the nation's worst drug epidemic in history. Durbin called on the DEA to use its new authorities-passed into law by Durbin and Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) last year-to improve its monitoring of opioid shipments across the country and reduce the volu… Continue Reading

Durbin Introduces Legislation To Improve Accountability Of Foreign Medical Schools Receiving Federal Student Aid

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced legislation that would protect students and taxpayers by closing a loophole that gives special treatment to a small number of overseas medical schools. U.S. Representative Michael Burgess (R-TX-26) introduced the bill in the House of Representatives earlier this year. The Foreign Medical School Accountability Fairness Act would require all medical schools outside of the U.S. and Canada to meet the same minimum requirements to receive Titl… Continue Reading

Durbin Introduces Bill To Protect America's National Parks & Monuments

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced the America's Red Rock Wilderness Act, a bill to protect 8.2 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 research, educational, and recreational opportunities for scientists, educators, outdoor enthusiasts, and American families. "These lands are threatened by fossil fuel develo… Continue Reading

Durbin Announces Legislation To Expand Family Leave Protections

CHICAGO - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today held a news conference to announce legislation that would bring the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) into the 21st Century. The Family Medical Leave Modernization Act will guarantee small necessities leave and make important updates to the definition of family to ensure a broader range of caregiving relationships are covered by FMLA's protections. Approximately 40 percent of today's workforce is not eligible for leave under FMLA. In 2015, more… Continue Reading

Durbin And Krishnamoorthi Announce Bipartisan Bill To Create Youth-Vaping Prevention Programs In Schools

CHICAGO - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-8) held a press conference today to announce the introduction of the Providing Resources to End the Vaping Epidemic Now for Teenagers (PREVENT) Act, a bipartisan and bicameral bill with Congressman Peter King (R-NY-2) that will create youth vaping prevention programs in schools and provide resources to help teachers and administrators combat skyrocketing youth e-cigarette use. "With more than five million c… Continue Reading

Durbin, Bennet, Duckworth, Gardner To DeVos: Extend Closed School Discharge Eligibility For Illinois, Colorado Students

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and Cory Gardner (R-CO) today sent a letter to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos urging her to extend the closed school discharge eligibility lookback period for Dream Center Education Holding's (DCEH) Illinois Institute of Art and Art Institute of Colorado students who attended or withdrew on or after January 20, 2018. In November, the Department announced it would cancel the loans taken out by students… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Statement On CDC Report Of Ethylene Oxide Exposure In Waukegan

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today released the following statement after a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report showed higher levels of cancer-causing ethylene oxide (EtO) found in people living near Medline Industries in Waukegan, Illinois. Medline uses EtO to sterilize medical products: "For months, we've urged the U.S. EPA to conduct inspections for ethylene oxide in Region 5 facilities, including Medline in Waukegan. For mont… Continue Reading

Durbin: For Defrauded Student Borrowers, Secretary DeVos Is Secretary Scrooge

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today, in a speech on the Senate floor, slammed Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' new methodology using Gainful Employment data for determining the amount of relief defrauded student borrowers should receive for successful borrower defense claims. This methodology would deny full relief to defrauded student borrowers. Durbin shared stories of three students who were defrauded by for-profit colleges, buried in unsurmountabl… Continue Reading