Durbin, Grassley Statement On Fourth Anniversary Of Landmark First Step Act

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the lead sponsors of the landmark First Step Act (FSA), today released the following statement on the fourth anniversary of the FSA-bipartisan criminal justice reform legislation designed to make our justice system fairer and our communities safer by reforming sentencing laws and providing opportunities for t… Continue Reading

Durbin Discusses Recent Ceasefire In Ethiopia With Special Envoy For The Horn Of Africa Mike Hammer

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today spoke with U.S. Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa (SEHOA) Mike Hammer to discuss the ceasefire and ongoing humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia. During the meeting, Hammer updated Durbin on the November 2nd Permanent Cessation of Hostilities Agreement between the Government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and the subsequent November 12th implementation agreement. The November 2nd agreement included the cre… Continue Reading

Durbin Calls On Republicans To Join Democrats In Passing Immigration Reform Legislation

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and lead author of the Dream Act, spoke on the Senate floor today about the urgency of passing immigration reform to protect Dreamers from deportation and fix our broken immigration system. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program has allowed hundreds of thousands of Dreamers to thrive in the United States. They are protected from deportation for now, but due to lawsuits by extre… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Join White House And Treasury Department To Announce $253 Million In Funding For Broadband Infrastructure In Illinois

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined the White House and the U.S. Department of the Treasury to announce the approval of broadband projects in Illinois under the American Rescue Plan's Capital Projects Fund, which aims to make affordable and reliable high-speed internet accessible to all Americans. Illinois will receive $253.7 million for broadband infrastructure, which is estimated to connect 87,163 households and busine… Continue Reading

Durbin Statement On Exclusion Of Equal Act Compromise In Omnibus Appropriations Bill

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today released the following statement after Senate Republican leadership refused to include a compromise version of the Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the Law (EQUAL) Act in the Fiscal Year 2023 omnibus appropriations bill. Last year, Durbin, along with Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Rob Portman (R-OH), Rand Paul (R-KY), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), introduced th… Continue Reading

Durbin, Cassidy INFORM Consumers Act Included In FY23 Omnibus Funding Bill

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) announced today their Integrity, Notification, and Fairness in Online Retail Marketplaces for Consumers (INFORM Consumers) Act has been included in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 omnibus appropriations bill. The legislation will combat the online sale of stolen, counterfeit, and dangerous consumer products by ensuring transparency of high-volume third-party sellers in online retail marketplaces. It would … Continue Reading

Durbin Statement on Report that Kellyanne Conway Sold Business to a Firm with Ties to Leonard Leo While Advocating for Fedsoc SCOTUS Nominees

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today released the following statement regarding a report that right-wing and judicial activist Leonard Leo helped facilitate the sale of Kellyanne Conway's polling company-a deal worth between $1 million and $5 million-at the same time that she was closely advising former President Donald Trump to nominate Leo's hand-picked judicial nominees to the Supreme Court: "This is further evidence of t… Continue Reading

In Speech on Senate Floor, Durbin Calls Out Corruption Of For-Profit College Industry

WASHINGTON -Today, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) delivered a speech on the Senate floor, criticizing the for-profit college industry for their continued abuse and manipulative tactics to lure students into a lifetime of debt in exchange for a near-meaningless degree. In his remarks, Durbin emphasized that for-profit colleges have been running this scam for years while the Department of Education has continued to provide billions in federal support to the industry. "For-profit col… Continue Reading

Durbin Statement on January 6 House Select Committee Referral of Former President Donald Trump

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today released the following statement regarding the January 6 House Select Committee’s decision to refer former President Donald Trump to the Department of Justice for potential criminal prosecution on several counts related to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021:“No man, not even a President, is above the law. The anger and resentment Donald Trump stoked with his ‘Big Lie’ cr… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Tout Illinois Wins Secured in Water Resources Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)-Chair of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water and Wildlife as well as founding Co-Chair of the Senate's first-ever Environmental Justice Caucus-highlighted several critical provisions they successfully included in the bipartisan Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) of 2022 which passed the Senate last night. These provisions will help bring envi… Continue Reading

Durbin Pushes Elon Musk on Twitter's Efforts to Eradicate Online Child Sexual Exploitation

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today sent a letter to Elon Musk, CEO of Twitter, about the apparent disconnect between Mr. Musk's statements about eradicating online child sexual exploitation on Twitter and his company's actual efforts to do so. In his letter, Durbin noted that while Twitter certainly had room for improving online child safety before Mr. Musk acquired it, reports indicate that Twitter's approach to child safet… Continue Reading

Durbin Statement on Senate Passage of Short Term Continuing Resolution

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today released the following statement on Senate passage of the Continuing Resolution (CR), which will fund the federal government through December 23, 2022: "The short term CR that passed the Senate today is essential to keeping the government funded through December 23. But now, Congress must roll up its sleeves and pass a government funding bill next week that adequately addresses our… Continue Reading

Durbin Statement on Senate Passage of NDAA

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, today released the following statement after voting for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes an authorization of nearly $858 billion for national defense, including authorizations for military construction projects in Illinois and a 4.6 percent pay raise for service members and the Department of Defense (DoD) civilian workforce: "T… Continue Reading

Durbin Meets With Bop Director Peters

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a lead author of the landmark First Step Act, today met with Colette Peters, Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). During their meeting, Durbin and Peters discussed the urgent need to advance significant reforms at BOP-including the continued implementation of the First Step Act and reducing the overuse of restricted housing; and Durbin emphasized that BOP must cooperate with the Ju… Continue Reading

Durbin Meets With Atf Director Dettelbach

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today met with Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) Director Steve Dettelbach, to discuss efforts to address the gun violence epidemic and protect public safety. They discussed the need to ensure that the ATF Chicago Field Division is working vigorously to address illicit gun trafficking in the Chicago area, and also discussed the importance of ensuring coordination between different A… Continue Reading

Durbin Meets With Sinai Health CEO Dr. Ezike

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today met with Dr. Ngozi Ezike, the new CEO of Sinai Chicago System and former Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. During their meeting, Durbin and Dr. Ezike discussed bolstering health care resources in Illinois for violence prevention, closing racial and ethnic health disparities, and addressing workforce shortages in hospitals. Durbin and Dr. Ezike also talked about new goals for the Chicago HEAL Initiative, includin… Continue Reading

Durbin Marks Tenth Anniversary of Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today delivered remarks on the Senate Floor on the tenth anniversary of the devastating shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Durbin spoke about the important progress that was made this year with passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant gun safety law in nearly 30 years, but also noted that more needs to be done, including banning military-style assault weapons f… Continue Reading

Durbin, Kennedy Urge DEA to Continue Reining In Big Pharma's Excessive Opioid Production

WASHINGTON - In a letter to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Anne Milgram, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senator John Kennedy (R-LA), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, urged DEA to apply its authorities to prevent and limit the pharmaceutical industry's excessively high opioid production levels. Today's letter comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that fatal drug ove… Continue Reading

Durbin, Kennedy Urge Dea To Continue Reining In Big Pharma’s Excessive Opioid Production

WASHINGTON - In a letter to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Anne Milgram, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senator John Kennedy (R-LA), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, urged DEA to apply its authorities to prevent and limit the pharmaceutical industry's excessively high opioid production levels. Today's letter comes after the Centers forDisease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that fatal drug over… Continue Reading

Durbin Talks Gun Violence Prevention With Highland Park Students

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today met with members of Highland Park Strong, an organization started by high school students following the mass shooting at the Highland Park 4th of July parade where seven community members were killed and 48 people were injured. During their meeting, Durbin and the students discussed gun safety reform, including banning assault weapons from civilian use. "After the July 4th mass shooting, H… Continue Reading