Press Releases
Durbin Statement On Latest Developments In Todd Blanche’s Embattled Attorney General Nomination
WASHINGTON - In a statement to the Congressional record, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, provided his latest assessment of the state of Todd Blanche’s nomination to be Attorney General. “Tomorrow, the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold a key vote on Todd Blanche’s nomination to be Attorney General… The position demands that the Attorney General be someone committed to the rule of law and the Constitution more than … Continue Reading
July 28, 2026
Durbin Sounds Alarm On President Trump’s Crypto Cash Grab
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, questioned witnesses at Senator Richard Blumenthal’s (D-CT) and Senator Chris Van Hollen’s (D-MD) spotlight forum that examined President Trump’s corruption within the crypto industry. The forum, which featured testimony from a victim of a crypto-scam, a former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) official, and anticorruption advocates, examined how the Trump Administration has … Continue Reading
July 27, 2026
On The Senate Floor, Durbin Reflects On Meeting With Recently Freed Political Prisoner, Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri
WASHINGTON - In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) reflected on his meeting last week with recently freed political prisoner, Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri, and his daughter in his Washington, D.C office. Pastor Jin was jailed for 266 days in a Chinese prison for operating a church and at least eight of his congregants remain imprisoned. His daughter, Grace, fought tirelessly for his release. During Durbin’s speech, he called for the release of the remaining … Continue Reading
July 27, 2026
Durbin Slams Trump Administration’s $88 Billion Supplemental Request While The President, Secretary Hegseth Have No Strategy To End War With Iran
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, today delivered a rebuke of the Trump Administration’s excessive supplemental funding request to bankroll the President’s war of choice in Iran. During his remarks, Durbin reiterated that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Trump have failed to provide any concrete plan of action for ending the war in Iran, yet, with more than $75 billion in unspent money … Continue Reading
July 24, 2026
Durbin, Duckworth Call On GSA To Act With Urgency To Address Ongoing Maintenance Issues At Dirksen & Roszkowski Courthouses
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) sent a letter to General Services Administration (GSA) Administrator Ed Forst calling on GSA to act with urgency to complete longstanding maintenance issues at the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse and the Stanley J. Roszkowski U.S. Courthouse in the Northern District of Illinois. The Senators first wrote to Administrator Forst on April 27, 2026, and GSA has since made recent progress in … Continue Reading
July 23, 2026
Durbin Meets With Recently Freed Chinese Political Prisoner, Pastor Jin Mingri
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today met with recently freed Chinese political prisoner, Pastor Jin Mingri, in his Washington D.C. office. Durbin has repeatedly called for Pastor Jin Mingri’s release and introduced a bipartisan resolution with U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) urging President Trump to prioritize securing the release of political prisoners, including Pastor Jin Mingri, during the President’s recent visit to China. The resolution passed the Senate in … Continue Reading
July 23, 2026
Durbin, Duckworth Introduce Resolution Celebrating 150 Years Of The Chicago Cubs Baseball Team
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today introduced a resolution commending the Chicago Cubs baseball team as it celebrates its 150th anniversary on August 29, 2026. The resolution notes that since 1876, more than 182,000,000 fans have attended games of the Chicago Cubs, and millions more have listened to games on the radio and watched games on television across the United States and the world. U.S. Representative Mike Quigley … Continue Reading
July 23, 2026
Durbin Speaks Against Todd Blanche’s Nomination To Be Attorney General In Senate Judiciary Committee Markup
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, delivered an opening statement during today’s Senate Judiciary Committee executive business meeting where he spoke against the nomination of Todd Blanche, President Trump’s pick to be U.S. Attorney General. Durbin also addressed Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley’s (R-IA) comments about special prosecutor Jack Smith. Durbin again called for Committee Republicans to … Continue Reading
July 22, 2026
Durbin Questions Witnesses During Spotlight Forum On President Trump’s Nominee To Be Attorney General, Todd Blanche
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today questioned witnesses during a spotlight forum hosted by U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) examining President Trump’s pick to be the Attorney General, Todd Blanche. Durbin first questioned Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania, Claire Finkelstein, founder and faculty director of the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law (CERL), about the conflict of interest involving … Continue Reading
July 22, 2026
Following Alarming Reports Social Security Will Face Insolvency By 2032, Durbin Calls On Congress To Strengthen Social Security Before End Of The Year
WASHINGTON - In a speech on the Senate floor today, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) raised alarms that the Social Security Trust Fund will face insolvency in 2032 unless Congress acts and called on his colleagues to pass his new bipartisan legislation, the Protecting Retirement Opportunities and Maintaining Income Security for Everyone (PROMISE) Act, to initiate Congressional action on extending Social Security’s solvency. “In 1983, we [Congress] faced a possibility where we … Continue Reading
July 22, 2026
Durbin, Duckworth, Wyden, Sanders, Scanlon, Dingell, Simon Lead 100 Members Of Congress In Calling On DOJ To Rescind Opinion Undermining Olmstead
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee; U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL); U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee; U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; and U.S. Representatives Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA-07), Debbie Dingell (D-MI-06), and Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) today led 100 Members of Congress in a letter … Continue Reading
July 21, 2026
Durbin Presses Secretary Hegseth On Cost Of Iran War As DOD Is Sitting On Billions Of Unobligated Funds
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, today participated in an Appropriations Committee hearing to review President Trump’s June 24, 2026, Supplemental funding request of $87.6 billion—including $67 billion for Department of Defense (DoD) funding. In addition to an unprecedented defense spending request while cutting non-defense spending, DoD has $75 billion in unobligated funding from Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill … Continue Reading
July 21, 2026
Ahead Of Confirmation Vote, Durbin Speaks Out Against Kara Westercamp’s Nomination To Lifetime Position On The Court Of International Trade Over Inflammatory Social Media Posts
WASHINGTON - In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, denounced the nomination of Kara Westercamp to a lifetime appointment on the Court of International Trade (CIT). Ms. Westercamp’s now-deleted social media posts questioned the outcome of the 2020 election; whitewashed the January 6 attack on the Capitol; attacked Chief Justice Roberts for not being sufficiently conservative; and crudely attacked … Continue Reading
July 21, 2026
Durbin Urges His Colleagues To Oppose Trump’s Nominee To Be Attorney General, Todd Blanche
WASHINGTON - In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called on his colleagues to vote against the nomination of Todd Blanche to be U.S. Attorney General. During his remarks, Durbin recalled the second day of Mr. Blanche’s nomination hearing, when the Committee convened an outside panel of witnesses to discuss his fitness to serve in this position. One of the witnesses Durbin invited was Dani Bensky—a … Continue Reading
July 20, 2026
Durbin Denounces Recent Surge In Trump Administration’s Cruel Campaign Against Immigrants
WASHINGTON - In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, denounced the recent surge in the Trump Administration’s cruel campaign against immigrants following the fatal shootings of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, Texas, and Joan Sebastian Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine, by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. Durbin also called out the Trump Administration’s false narrative that federal … Continue Reading
July 20, 2026
On The Senate Floor, Durbin Continues To Call Out Trump For His Election Denialism
WASHINGTON - Following President Trump’s speech on Thursday where he peddled lies about the 2020 election and attempted to sow doubt in the 2026 and 2028 elections, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, spoke on the Senate floor to debunk the President’s lies about election security. Durbin also called out Republicans’ SAVE America Act, legislation which would make it more difficult for millions of Americans to vote. “In a 25-minute … Continue Reading
July 17, 2026
Durbin, Padilla Urge DHS, DOJ To End Blanket $1.8 Million Fines Being Improperly Assessed On Law-Abiding Immigrants
CHICAGO - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration, today sent a letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin urging them to end the improper application of certain civil penalties in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to law-abiding … Continue Reading
July 17, 2026
Durbin Joins Blumenthal, Darline Graham, Senators In Announcing Agreement On Legislation To Further Sanction Russia And Hold Purchasers Of Its Oil Accountable
CHICAGO - Today, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Co-Chair of the Senate Ukraine Caucus, joined U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Darline Graham (R-SC), and 58 other members of the Senate in announcing the text of an agreement negotiated between the late Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and the White House that would add sanctions on key Russian individuals and industries as well as hold major purchasers of Russian oil and gas accountable for supporting Russia’s war in … Continue Reading
July 16, 2026
Durbin Statement On Trump Election Denialism Speech
CHICAGO - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released the following statement after President Trump’s speech tonight peddling lies about the 2020 election and attempting to sow doubt in the 2026 and 2028 elections: “President Trump and his Republican Party are flailing. They know their MAGA agenda is making life more expensive, communities less safe, and government more corrupt. “Tonight’s ‘speech’ from the President is a … Continue Reading
July 16, 2026
Durbin, Schatz, Gillibrand Introduce Child Marriage Prevention Act
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced the Child Marriage Prevention Act, which would take steps to reduce child marriage across the United States. Companion legislation was introduced in the House by U.S. Representative Gwen Moore (D-WI-04) According to leading advocacy groups on this issue, data shows that between 2000 and 2021, more than … Continue Reading