Press Releases
Durbin Files NDAA Amendment Based On Bipartisan DEFIANCE Act
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2026 to hold individuals accountable who proliferate nonconsensual, sexually-explicit “deepfake” images and videos. The amendment would create a federal civil cause of action for victims to sue individuals who produce, distribute, possess, or solicit these digital forgeries without consent. The amendment is … Continue Reading
September 05, 2025
Durbin, Duckworth, Schneider Visit Naval Station Great Lakes, Locked Out By DHS
NORTH CHICAGO — U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Representative Brad Schneider (D-IL-10) to visit Naval Station Great Lakes amid President Trump’s plans to support U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers and his threats to deploy the military to Chicago are imminent. “The Naval Station Great Lakes is one of the most important training facilities our nation has,” said Durbin. “I’ve been honored to work alongside my … Continue Reading
September 05, 2025
Durbin, Duckworth Announce NDAA Amendments To Increase Oversight As President Trump Threatens To Deploy Military, ICE To Chicago
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense and Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), a combat Veteran and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today announced seven amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2026 to push back against the Trump Administration’s threats to deploy the military to cities across the country, including … Continue Reading
September 05, 2025
Durbin, Booker Lead Judiciary Democrats In A Letter To Attorney General Bondi On Politicization Of Antitrust Enforcement Activity At DOJ
CHICAGO - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi regarding the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) troubling approach to recent antitrust matters and partisan weaponization of DOJ’s Antitrust Division—including the extreme departures from Department process that led to the proposed settlement in Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s (HPE) $14 billion acquisition of … Continue Reading
September 05, 2025
Durbin Announces NDAA Amendment To Protect The Baltic Security Initiative
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Co-Chair of the Senate Baltic Freedom Caucus, introduced a bipartisan amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2026 to shore up support for his Baltic Security Initiative as the Trump Administration aims to suspend the program. “The Baltic nations are essential NATO partners in upholding democratic values and transatlantic security. As the Trump Administration plans to suspend the Baltic Security Initiative, … Continue Reading
September 04, 2025
Durbin Releases Statement On Trump Administration Suspending Baltic Security Initiative
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Co-Chair of the Senate Baltic Freedom Caucus, today released the following statement in response to the Trump Administration suspending the Baltic Security Initiative (BSI): “The Baltic nations are essential NATO partners in upholding democratic values and transatlantic security. By suspending the Baltic Security Initiative, President Trump is turning his back on our longstanding NATO allies, stripping them of the resources needed … Continue Reading
September 04, 2025
Durbin Meets With NIU President As Trump Administration Slashes Research Funding, Restricts Financial Support For Students
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today met with Lisa Freeman, President of Northern Illinois University (NIU), to discuss the harmful impacts of congressional Republicans and the Trump Administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which caps graduate student and Parent PLUS loans and institutes a lifetime borrowing limit that makes higher education increasingly more inaccessible for low and middle-income students. The legislation also places new limitations on Pell … Continue Reading
September 04, 2025
Durbin Introduces Legislation To Invest In A Clean Climate Future And Spur Job Creation
WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) reintroduced the America’s Clean Future Fund Act, a bill that would spur job creation by investing in a clean energy economy. The bill seeks to drive significant carbon emissions reductions to combat the climate crisis; provide economic transition assistance to environmental justice (EJ) communities, farmers, and fossil fuel-reliant communities; and provide financing for climate resilience and clean energy projects. “The … Continue Reading
September 04, 2025
Durbin, Duckworth Urge Bondi, Noem, Hegseth, Patel To Provide Immediate Information About President Trump's Imminent Military Deployment And Increased Federal Law Enforcement Presence In Chicago
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today sent a letter to Attorney General Bondi, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Noem, Department of Defense Secretary Hegseth, and FBI Director Patel requesting immediate information regarding President Trump’s imminent actions to send the military and increase federal law enforcement presence in Chicago. The Senators wrote, “We strongly object to President … Continue Reading
September 04, 2025
Durbin Condemns Republicans' So-called 'Big, Beautiful, Bill' That Rips 15 Million Americans Off Their Health Care To Fund Tax Breaks For Billionaires
WASHINGTON - Today on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) delivered a rebuke of congressional Republicans and the Trump Administration’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB), which slashes approximately $1 trillion in Medicaid funding and $300 billion in Affordable Care Act funding over the next decade. As a result of the legislation and congressional Republicans’ failure to address expiring health care subsidies, up to 17 million Americans are projected to … Continue Reading
September 04, 2025
Durbin Slams President Trump's Failing Tariffs, Harm To The U.S. Economy
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) delivered a speech on the Senate floor highlighting President Trump’s disastrous economic plan - including both the One, Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA) and the chaotic Trump Tariffs. Not only could 17 million people lose their health care under the OBBA but working families making less than $35,000 a year will only see a minor tax break of only $3 a week—compared with billionaires who could see a tax break of more than $310,000—or … Continue Reading
September 04, 2025
Durbin, Duckworth Join Warren To Lead Investigation Into Trump Administration's Betrayal Of Immigrant Service Members, Veterans, And Military Families
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), along with Representatives Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA-06), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH-02), and Delia Ramirez (D-IL-03), opened a new investigation into the Trump Administration’s arrest, detention, and deportation of non-citizen service members, Veterans, and military families. The lawmakers wrote to the Department of … Continue Reading
September 03, 2025
Durbin Meets With Illinois Dental Associations As Trump Administration Slashes Critical Funding For Medicaid, Affordable Care Act
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today sat down with leadership of Delta Dental of Illinois and the Delta Dental Plans Association to discuss expanding access to dental care as congressional Republicans and the Trump Administration continue to attack critical health care programs by slashing $1 trillion in funding for Medicaid and more than $300 billion from the Affordable Care Act over the next decade. “Dental care is a critical, but often-overlooked, part of … Continue Reading
September 03, 2025
Durbin Demands Immediate Hearing On Trump's Dangerous Military Deployment Threats To Chicago And Other Cities
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today requested for Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to immediately schedule a committee hearing on President Trump’s threats to deploy the military to Chicago and other American cities, given the serious implications for federalism, constitutional rights, and federal laws within the Committee’s jurisdiction. In a letter to Chairman Grassley, Durbin began with the hearing request, … Continue Reading
September 03, 2025
Durbin Questions Judicial Nominees In Today's Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today questioned judicial nominees on two panels, beginning with Jennifer Mascott, nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, during today’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. During the second panel, Durbin questioned Edmund LaCour, Jr., nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama; Justice William Lewis, nominated to the U.S. District … Continue Reading
September 03, 2025
Senate Judiciary Democrats Urge Firing Of Justice Department Employee And Insurrectionist Jared Wise
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) urged the removal of Department of Justice (DOJ) employee Jared Wise. Wise stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and was charged with multiple felony offenses, including aiding and abetting the assault of police while on Capitol grounds; however, his case was dismissed after President Trump’s blanket pardon of … Continue Reading
September 03, 2025
Durbin, Padilla, Kelly Lead Senate Democrats In Calling Out Trump Administration's Wrongful Targeting Of DACA Recipients In Illegal Immigration Scheme
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) led a group of 38 Senate Democrats in pressing U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem on the Trump Administration’s wrongful targeting of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients in its mass deportation scheme. The Senators began by citing a troubling statement from DHS Assistant … Continue Reading
September 03, 2025
Durbin, Duckworth Request Meeting With Secretary Of Navy Regarding President Trump Using Naval Station Great Lakes To House ICE Agents
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) released the following statement after the Senators requested a meeting with the Secretary of the Navy, John C. Phelan, demanding information around President Trump’s plan to use Naval Station Great Lakes to house U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers as President Trump’s threats to deploy the military to Chicago are imminent: “Using the military to ‘occupy’ an American city in the absence of an … Continue Reading
September 02, 2025
Durbin On Trump's Threat To Deploy Military To Chicago: Dangerous, Illegal, And Unconstitutional
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today condemned President Trump’s threat to deploy the military to Chicago and increase U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. Even though crime rates in Chicago have been falling for years, President Trump has decided to create a political spectacle in Chicago to distract from his plunging poll numbers. Durbin began his speech by noting that the National Guard … Continue Reading
September 02, 2025
Durbin, Duckworth, Ramirez, IL Delegation Members Demand Trump Stop The Politically Motivated, Unlawful Deployment Of Military Personnel In Chicago
CHICAGO — U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Congresswoman Delia C. Ramirez (IL-03) in a letter with 10 Members of Congress from the Illinois delegation to demand that President Donald Trump and the Pentagon suspend plans for the deployment of military personnel to Chicago. The letter comes as the Administration reportedly prepares to use the Naval Station Great Lakes to deploy federal agents and military personnel in Chicago.The … Continue Reading