Durbin Meets With Illinois Representatives-Elect

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today met with Jesus "Chuy" Garcia and Sean Casten, U.S. Representatives-elect from Illinois, to congratulate them and discuss their goals for the 116th Congress. "It's an honor to welcome these newly-elected Representatives to Washington and congratulate them on their victories. They each bring a unique perspective and new energy to our efforts to address the issues facing Illinoisans and our nation, and I look forward to working with them in the ne… Continue Reading

Durbin Re-Elected Senate Democratic Whip For 116th Congress

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement after being unanimously re-elected as the Senate's second-highest ranking Democrat, the Senate Democratic Whip, for the 116th Congress by his Senate Democratic colleagues this morning. Durbin has served in the number two role in the caucus since 2005. I am honored that the Senate Democratic Caucus has again supported me to serve as Whip. Our party is more diverse than ever, our Congress is divided, and the challenges… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth, Schneider Call On Trump Adminstration To Improve Its Monitoring Of Cancer-Causing Pollution In Lake County

CHICAGO - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Representative Brad Schneider (D-IL-10) today, in a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), requested it perform updated and current air sampling and modeling studies to determine the cancer risks in Lake County, Illinois, caused by ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions at Medline Industries, Inc. and Vantage Specialty Chemicals, Inc. The EPA has not conducted air emissions quality tests for these two facil… Continue Reading

Durbin Statement On Attorney General Sessions Resignation

CHICAGO - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today released the following statement after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced his resignation at President Donald Trump's request: Attorney General Sessions' forced resignation is a transparent effort to clear the way for President Trump to limit or stop the Mueller investigation. Acting Attorney General Whitaker has made his intentions clear to do the President's bidding and stop Mueller. This move could lead our nation in… Continue Reading

Durbin Calls For Investigation Into Trump Administration's Delay Of Notifying Lake County Residents About Cancer-Causing Pollution

CHICAGO - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today, in a letter to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), called for an investigation into whether EPA followed proper protocols when critical health information about cancer-causing ethylene oxide (EtO) emissions at Medline Industries, Inc. and Vantage Specialty Chemicals, Inc. was withheld from Lake County, Illinois residents. Last week, the Chicago Tribune published a story that details how the… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Call On Illinois Public Health Director Nirav Shah To Resign Over Botched Response To Legionnaries' Outbreaks At IVH Quincy

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today called for Illinois Public Health Director Nirav Shah to resign following reports that the Rauner Administration botched a water-system repair at Illinois Veterans Home (IVH) Quincy, which was in violation of state health codes, and then chose to deliberately withhold that information from the public and not cite the facility for a mistake. In newly released documents, Shah detailed the dangers present at the facilit… Continue Reading

Durbin Statement On One-Week Anniversary Of The Worst Ant-Semitic Attack In U.S. History

CHICAGO - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today released the following statement ahead of the one-week anniversary of the shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue claimed 11 lives: "The tragic shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh revealed in heartbreaking detail the hate and latent violence that lives in the hearts of too many in this land. As I reached out to many of my Jewish friends I learned the stunning personal impact of this tragedy. Many characterize it as the worst incident o… Continue Reading

Durbin Statement On Rauner & Trump Administrations' Delay Of Notifying Lake County Residents About Cancer-Causing Pollution

CHAMPAIGN - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today released the following statement after the Chicago Tribune published a story that details how two facilities in Lake County, Illinois - Medline Industries, Inc. in Waukegan and Vantage Specialty Chemicals, Inc. in Gurnee - appear to emit cancer-causing emissions, yet the Rauner Administration, along with the Trump Administration, have delayed giving this pertinent information to Lake County residents: This is simply outrageous. Day after day, t… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth, foster Request EPA Investigation Into Rauner And Trump Administrations' Delay Of Notifying Public About Sterigenics Cancer Risk

CHICAGO - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Representative Bill Foster (D-IL-11) today requested the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) investigate if EPA complied with all statutory, regulatory, and policy requirements and protocols when it intentionally withheld critical health information from the public about carcinogenic air pollution from the Sterigenics facility in DuPage County, Illinois. Their reque… Continue Reading

Durbin Statement On Shooting At Pittsburgh Synagogue

CHICAGO - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today released the following statement after a mass shooting at the Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: My heart breaks for Pittsburgh today and the Jewish community that worships at Tree of Life Congregation Synagogue. I'm praying for the families who have lost loved ones, and for those injured in this senseless tragedy including several police officers. We are grateful once again to law enforcement and fir… Continue Reading

Durbin Statement On Rauner And Trump Administrations' Delay On Notifying Public About Sterigenics Risk

CHICAGO - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today released the following statement after the Chicago Tribune published a story that details how Governor Bruce Rauner's Administration, along with the Trump Administration, chose to not inform the public of serious cancer risks associated with emissions from the Sterigenics plant in Willowbrook, Illinois, for at least eight months after it learned of the risks: This is a downright disgrace. Once again, the Rauner and Trump Administrations prioritize… Continue Reading

Durbin Highlights Key Provisions Included In Major Opioid Legislation Signed Into Law

CHICAGO - Following President Trump's signing of a major legislative package to confront the opioid epidemic, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today sat down with advocates and health professionals to discuss key provisions in the bill and what more needs to be done. The legislation, named the SUPPORT for Patients and Families Act, includes several Durbin provisions to help address both causes and effects of the nation's worst-ever drug overdose epidemic. "Our nation is in the midst of the wors… Continue Reading

Durbin, Leahy, Feinstein, Sanders Call On President Trump To Condemn Murder Of Jamal Khashoggi, Begin Restoring America's Moral Standing Internationally

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Senate Appropriations Committee's Defense Subcommittee Ranking Member; Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chairman; Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member; and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member today pressed President Donald Trump to begin restoring America's moral standing by forcefully, without equivocation, condemning Jamal Khashoggi's murder and indicating there will… Continue Reading

Durbin Calls For Expulsion Of Saudi Ambassador

CHICAGO - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today called for the expulsion of the Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Prince Khalid bin Salman, son of King Salman of Saudi Arabia and the younger brother of the Crown Prince, until the completion of a credible third party investigation into the disappearance and murder of noted journalist and critic of the Saudi government, Jamal Khashoggi. On Friday, Saudi Arabia confirmed for the first time that Jamal Khashoggi died in the kingd… Continue Reading

Durbin, Murray, Senators Urge Social Security Administration To Provide Data Needed For Gainful Employment

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Patty Murray (D-WA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) today pressed the Social Security Administration (SSA) to enter into a new data sharing agreement with the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to allow the development of debt-to-earnings (D/E) rates under the gainful employment rule. Under the rule, ED is required to use mean and median earnings data generated by SSA to calculate D/E rates. The previou… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Press For Full Disclosure Of Trump Family Business Ties In Saudi Arabia

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), along with Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) and eight other Senate Democrats, wrote to President Donald Trump and to the Trump Organization seeking a full accounting of any financial ties between the Trump Organization and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Senators' letters follow the disappearance and reported killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a resident of the United States and Washington Post journalist, whose whereabouts have … Continue Reading

Durbin Calls On Secretary Devos To Implement & Enforce Obama-Era Borrower Defense Rule

SPRINGFIELD - Upon the Obama-era Borrower Defense rule taking effect, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) called on Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to expeditiously implement and enforce the rule-including provisions providing automatic closed schools discharges to thousands of eligible students and prohibiting schools from using mandatory arbitration. The rule took effect following rulings by a federal judge that the Trump-DeVos Department of Education's delay was illegal and den… Continue Reading

Durbin Presses EPA To Limit Harmful Pollution From Meat-Processing Plants

SPRINGFIELD - Following recent reports by the Environmental Integrity Project and the Chicago Tribune that show that a JBS-owned pork-processing plant in Beardstown, Illinois, released 1,849 pounds of nitrogen a day, on average, into a tributary to the Illinois River, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today pressed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to thoroughly review its Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Meat and Poultry Products and set new, stricter standards t… Continue Reading

Durbin Statement On JBS Pork-Processing Plant Pollution In Beardstown

SPRINGFIELD - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today released the following statement regarding a Chicago Tribune story that reported a Beardstown, Illinois pork-processing plant, owned by JBS, discharged more nitrogen from animal waste into Illinois waterways than any other slaughterhouse in the country last year: The details outlined in the Chicago Tribune story aren't the first reports we've read on the reckless polluting occurring from this particular plant. Recent reports have stated that… Continue Reading

Durbin Statement On HHS Announcement To Require Disclosure Of Prescription Drug Prices In TV Ads

SPRINGFIELD - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today applauded the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announcement to issue regulations requiring pharmaceutical companies to list prices of their prescription drugs in direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertisements. In November 2017, Durbin introduced the Drug-price Transparency in Communications (DTC) Act that would require the pharmaceutical industry to provide more transparency about the cost of drugs in their advertisem… Continue Reading