Senate Appropriations Committee Passes Funding Bill That Includes Durbin Priority Of Increased Medical Research Funding

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced a $2 billion, or 5.4 percent, increase in funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Appropriations bill, which passed 30-1 out of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Over the past five years, Durbin has worked to provide NIH with $10 billion in increased funding, a 34 percent increase. Within this am… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth, Schneider Urge U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers To Prevent Foxconn Flooding Impact

WASHINGTON - While President Donald Trump breaks ground at the Foxconn project in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and U.S. Representative Brad Schneider (D-IL-10) today urged the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to increase their oversight of the Foxconn project to prevent increased flooding in Lake County, Illinois. The State of Wisconsin has allowed Foxconn to fill in up to 26 acres of wetlands, which would lead to a higher volume of… Continue Reading

Durbin & Senators Press FDA To Protect Children From Addictive Vaping Products

WASHINGTON - Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), along with 13 of his Senate colleagues, sent a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about JUUL e-cigarette vaping products, and other e-cigarettes with flavors like gummy bear, cotton candy, peanut butter cup, and cookies 'n cream, urging the agency to take swift action against these products that are clearly being marketed to children and teens. The Senators urged the FDA to reconsider its decision to delay a review of the… Continue Reading

Durbin Statement On Retirement Of Justice Kennedy

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Judiciary Committee, released the following statement on the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and upcoming vacancy on the Court: I thank Justice Kennedy for his decades of service to the Court and the country. Senator McConnell set the new standard by giving the American people their say in the upcoming election before Court vacancies are filled. With so much at stake for the people of our country, t… Continue Reading

Durbin Statement On Janus V. AFSCME Supreme Court Decision

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement regarding the Supreme Court's decision in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME): In Illinois, Governor Bruce Rauner has made it clear that he favors corporations and special interests over Illinois workers and their families. He has repeatedly pushed an agenda of hostility to unions. This agenda is hurting workers across Illinois. And now, Governor Rauner has s… Continue Reading

Durbin Statement On Court Order Blocking Trump Child Separation Policy

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement on a preliminary injunction issued by a federal district court judge in San Diego against the Trump Administration's child separation policy: This ruling is clear: the Trump Administration's child separation policy harms kids and must be stopped. It's time to close this embarrassing chapter in our nation's history once and for all. Kids win. -30-… Continue Reading

Durbin: No Law Required Trump's Child Separation Policy, And We Don't Need Any New Laws To Reunite Families

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today spoke on the Senate floor about the Trump Administration's cruel policy of separating children from their parents who arrive at the Southern border of the United States seeking protection from horrific violence in the Northern Triangle region of Central America. Durbin discussed his recent visit to a facility in Chicago that houses children who have been separated from their parents due to the President's 'zero-tolerance' policy tha… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Announce $4.1 Million in Federal Assistance to Support Quincy Veterans Home, Speak with New IDVA Director

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has awarded $4,156,722 to the State of Illinois to support the cost of 2016 renovations of the domestic water system for legionella control at the Illinois Veterans Home at Quincy (IVH) and help support ongoing improvements at the facility. Durbin and Duckworth also spoke today with the new Director of the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs, Stephen Cur… Continue Reading

Durbin Calls On Accreditor To Investigate Reports Of Misleading Practices By Dream Center Education Holdings

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today pressed The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) on recent reports that Dream Center Education Holdings (DCEH), the owner of Art Institutes, misled students about the accreditation status of several of its campuses including the Illinois Institute of Art in Chicago and Schaumburg. Durbin's letter to Dr. Barbara Gellman-Danley, President of HLC, comes after a recent Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article, which reported that DCEH failed to i… Continue Reading

Durbin Calls On Trump Admin To Answer Questions About Children Forcibly Separated From Parents At Border

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today pressed Alex Azar, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), for detailed information on the health and well-being of children forcibly separated from their parents as part of the Trump Administration's "zero tolerance" policy. The nation's medical community has uniformly warned about the catastrophic health effects of this Administration's family separation policy on children, and expressed strong opposition … Continue Reading

Durbin Statement On Supreme Court Ruling On Trump's Muslim Ban

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement after the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to uphold President Trump's revised Executive Order banning travel from certain Muslim-majority countries: I agree with Justice Sotomayor: this decision upholding President Trump's Muslim Travel Ban fails to safeguard the principle of religious neutrality embedded in our Bill of Rights. History will not be kind to this president's policies or the Supreme Court Justices wh… Continue Reading

Senate Passes Durbin Amendment Ensuring Full Funding For La Grange Lock & Dam In Senate Energy & Water Appropriations Bill

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced that full funding will be available for the much-needed rehab of Illinois' La Grange Lock & Dam in Versailles, Illinois. Durbin cosponsored a bipartisan amendment to the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 funding bill with Senator John Thune (R-SD), which will free up enough funding in the Inland Waterways Trust Fund (IWTF) to ensure La Grange receives the $28.8 million in funding needed to mo… Continue Reading

Durbin Statement On Supreme Court Ruling On Internet Tax Loophole

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to overturn a 1992 ruling that had given internet-only retailers an unfair advantage over Main Street businesses by prohibiting states from requiring remote retailers to collect taxes already owed the same way local businesses do. "This is good news for main street businesses in Illinois and across America. This ruling clears the way for our retailers to compete on a… Continue Reading

Durbin: Trump Executive Order On Child Separation Calls For Locking Up Children And Their Families Indefinitely

WASHINGTON - In a speech on the Senate Floor, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) blasted President Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and the Trump Administration's cruel policy of separating children from their parents who arrive at the Southern border of the United States seeking protection from horrific violence in the Northern Triangle region of Central America. Durbin criticized the President's Wednesday Executive Order that doubles down on his "zero-tolerance" policy and cr… Continue Reading

Durbin Announces Summer 2018 Recipients Of The Ed Greelegs Scholarship Program

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced Karla Robles, a rising college senior at Loyola University Chicago, and Ivy Lyons, a rising college senior at Greenville University, as the summer 2018 recipients of the Ed Greelegs Scholarship Program. This scholarship, open to students from Illinois or those studying in Illinois, is an opportunity for the students to receive financial assistance while obtaining a first-hand experience in Senator Durbin's Washington, D.C. office. Th… Continue Reading

Durbin Statement On Trump Order To Continue 'Zero Tolerance' & Detain Children Indefinitely

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement after President Trump signed a new executive order attempting to overturn the Flores Settlement, a 1997 court order that set minimum standards for the detention, housing, and release of non-citizen children who are detained by the U.S. government, and requires the government to pursue a general policy of releasing children. Repealing the Flores Settlement was a key component of President Trump's own immigr… Continue Reading

Durbin Calls On Republicans In Congress To Tell Trump To End Family Separation Today

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today called on Senate Republicans to have the courage to speak up against the Trump Administration's policy of separating children from their parents at the border. Durbin made remarks with other members of the Democratic Leadership outside the Senate chamber. President Trump will huddle with Congressional Republicans on Capitol Hill later today. "The President with his lying tweets. The Attorney General hiding behind his Bible. The Sec… Continue Reading

Durbin Calls for Additional Action to Address Skyrocketing Prescription Drug Costs

PEORIA - As the costs of prescription drugs continue to rise, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today joined leaders and doctors at OSF Children's Hospital of Illinois to discuss new efforts to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable and lower prices for consumers. Durbin has introduced legislation to require disclosure of prices in prescription drug advertising to consumers and has co-sponsored a bipartisan bill, approved yesterday in the Senate Judiciary Committee, to combat abusive delay tact… Continue Reading

Durbin Statement On Justice Dept. Inspector General Report On FBI Handling Of Clinton Investigation

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement on the release of a report by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz that examined the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) handling of its investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails during the 2016 presidential campaign: This report makes clear that FBI Director Comey and FBI personnel failed to follow the rules, and in doing so, hurt Hillary Clinton's campaign and helped Donald Tr… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Call On Trump Administration To Protect Americans' Health Care, Halt Expansion Of 'Junk' Health Insurance Plans

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined 45 other Senators in a letter urging the Trump administration to halt the implementation of a health care proposal that could threaten access to quality, affordable care for Americans and raise health care costs, especially for older Americans and those with pre-existing conditions. The proposal would mean the expansion of previously limited short-term health insurance plans to year-long "junk plans" that can exclud… Continue Reading