As COVID-19 Cases Spike Across The Country, Durbin Calls On Senator McConnell To Bring House-Passed Heroes Act To The Floor

WASHINGTON - As COVID-19 cases spike across the country, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today called out Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for continuing to delay to bring the House-passed Heroes Act to the floor in the Senate. The House passed the Heroes Act more than six weeks ago. In a speech on the Senate floor, Durbin also highlighted how Senator McConnell has been solely focused on confirming federal judicial nominees instead of addressing the ongoing public h… Continue Reading

Durbin, Menendez, Reed Seek Details On Pompeo's, Esper's Awareness Of Russian Bounties On U.S. Troops

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL); Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; and Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called on Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper to detail their knowledge of and actions resulting from the U.S. intelligence community's discovery that a Russian intelligence unit offered to pay militants in Afghanistan to target U.S. tr… Continue Reading

Senate Passes Durbin Resolution To Reaffirm U.S. Commitment To Global Effort To Find COVID-19 Vaccine

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) praised the unanimous passage of his resolution encouraging U.S. engagement with the international community on the COVID-19 response to research, develop, and distribute vaccines and therapeutics. The resolution, led by Durbin and supported by 39 of his Senate colleagues, noted the historic international effort to eradicate smallpox as an example of why concerted global collaboration and coordination is needed for the COVID-19 pandemi… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Join Colleagues To Introduce "No Check, No Sale" Bill To Close Loophole Allowing Gun Sales Without A Completed Background Check

WASHINGTON - Ahead of the five-year anniversary of the funeral service for the victims of the mass shooting at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Ed Markey (D-MA), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) to introduce legislation with 18 of their Senate colleagues to close a current loophole that allows gun sales to proceed if a background check is not completed after 72 … Continue Reading

Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Durbin, Lee Inspector General Access Act

WASHINGTON - The Senate Judiciary Committee today on a 21-1 vote reported the Inspector General Access Act, bipartisan legislation introduced by Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Mike Lee (R-UT) that would expand the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General (IOG) to include alleged DOJ attorney misconduct. Currently, the DOJ Inspector General (IG) has no authority to investigate professional misconduct by DOJ lawyers. DOJ is the only agency whose IG has s… Continue Reading

Durbin, Nadler: Corporations Must Give Workers And Retirees Fair Treatment In Bankruptcy

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY-10) today introduced a bicameral bill to curb abuses that deprive employees and retirees of their earnings and retirement savings when businesses file for bankruptcy. The Protecting Employees and Retirees in Business Bankruptcies Act would make reforms to rebalance the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process, which has increasingly given corporate executives preferential treatment while … Continue Reading

Durbin Presses HHS Secretary Azar On Illinois Hospital Funding

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), on a call with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar, urged HHS to address COVID-19 relief funding shortfalls at safety net hospitals, including children's hospitals, in Illinois. Durbin discussed how the latest round of $10 billion in Provider Relief Fund missed some of the most prominent safety net hospitals in Illinois, and how many are urging for more assistance in order to stay financially viable during the pand… Continue Reading

Following Landmark Supreme Court Decision On DACA, Durbin Calls On Senate To Protect Dreamers

WASHINGTON - In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee and author of the Dream Act, called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to bring to the Senate floor the bipartisan House-passed American Dream and Promise Act, which will establish a path to citizenship for Dreamers and immigrants with TPS or Deferred Enforced Departure (DED). Last week, in a landmark decision, the Supreme Co… Continue Reading

Durbin Commemorates Pride Month, Calls For Senate To Step Up During Moment Of Change In America

WASHINGTON - In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today commemorated Pride Month and urged his Senate colleagues to continue to work for equal justice under the law during this historic moment of change in America. Durbin urged his colleagues to finally pass the Equality Act, speak out against efforts to discriminate against LGBTQ Americans, and recognize the importance of the racial justice movement by imple… Continue Reading

Durbin Statement On Trump Administration Decision TO End Federal Support At Two Illinois COVID-19 Testing Sites

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement regarding reports that the Trump Administration would end federal funding and support on June 30, 2020, for 13 coronavirus testing sites currently located in five states, including Illinois: "Just yesterday, the U.S. recorded its third highest coronavirus case count since this pandemic began. So today, the Trump Administration announces that it will cut off federal funding to operate COVID-19 testing sites in … Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Announce More Than $4 Million For Southern Illinois Mass Transit Districts

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced that two mass transit districts in Southern Illinois will receive more than $4 million in federal funding to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The funding, awarded by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and appropriated through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act¸ will go to Rides Mass Transit District (RMTD) and Jackson County Mass Transit District (JCMTD). "This fundi… Continue Reading

Durbin, Doggett Introduce Bill To Prevent Tax Dodging Corporation From Receiving COVID-19 Relief

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-TX-35) today introduced the American Assistance for American Companies Act¸ a bill to ensure that inverted corporations cannot benefit from federal COVID-19 financial assistance under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. For years, the tax inversion loophole has allowed large multinational corporations to do a paper shift of their corporate citizenship from the United States to … Continue Reading

Durbin Votes Against Motion To Proceed To Republican Police Reform Bill

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today released the following statement after voting against the motion to proceed to the Republican police reform bill, the JUSTICE Act: "Senate Republicans' proposal on police reform fails to meet this historic moment with the real change that the young people on the streets are calling for. We owe it to George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, and all of the Black and Brown lives we… Continue Reading

Durbin Votes Against Cory Wilson's Nomination To The Fifth Circuit Court

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today released the following statement after voting against the nomination of Cory Wilson to the Fifth Circuit Court: "For the second week in a row, Senate Republicans have confirmed a Circuit Court nominee with a record of strident hostility toward the Affordable Care Act. Even in the midst of one of the greatest public health crises in our nation's history, Republicans just won't let go o… Continue Reading

Durbin, Rubio Introduce Bipartisan Bill To Expand Health Care Workforce To Meet Nationwide Challenges Highlighted By COVID-19

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) today introduced bipartisan legislation to provide a historic investment in the National Health Service Corps (NHSC), Nurse Corps, and National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) programs to bolster health emergency surge capacity and restore the pipeline of physicians, nurses, and other health professionals to address existing health workforce shortages throughout our country. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed existing health wo… Continue Reading

Durbin, Duckworth Join Bipartisan Bill To Make Juneteenth A Federal Holiday

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined Senators Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Tina Smith (D-MN), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Kamala D. Harris (D-CA) to introduce the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, bipartisan legislation to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. "Juneteenth", observed on June 19, commemorates the end of slavery in the United States and is also known as "Emancipation Day", "Jubilee Day", and "Juneteenth Independence Day". On June 19, 1865, in… Continue Reading

Durbin Calls On Senator McConnell To Allow For Bipartisan Negotiations On Police Reform Legislation

WASHINGTON - In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to allow real debate on policing reform in order to find common ground and warned against a potential partisan vote on the floor of the Senate. Durbin joined his colleagues, Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Kamala Harris (D-CA), in calling on Senator McConnell to refer the pol… Continue Reading

Durbin Statement On The Passing Of Stanley Balzekas

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement on the passing of Stanley Balzekas: "In the course of America's immigration history, there have emerged leaders whose names are synonymous with the struggle and triumph of these immigrant efforts. Stanley Balzekas was that leader for Lithuanian-Americans, especially in Chicago. "Stanley was my friend. His devotion to Lithuania and his fellow countrymen was legendary. Whether you bumped into him on the streets of Vil… Continue Reading

Durbin, Grassley Introduce New, Bipartisan Legislation To Reform Elderly Home Detention And Compassionate Release Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

WASHINGTON - Amid the COVID-19 public health pandemic, U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA), authors of the bipartisan First Step Act, landmark criminal justice reform legislation, introduced new, bipartisan legislation to reform the Elderly Home Detention Pilot Program and compassionate release from federal prisons. Sadly, more than 80 federal prisoners with pre-existing medical conditions that made them more vulnerable to COVID-19 have died as a result of the virus, more… Continue Reading

Durbin, Pascrell, Khanna Statement On Trump Administration Decision To Bar H-1B Visas Through End Of The Year

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Representatives Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) and Ro Khanna (D-CA-17) today released the following statement regarding the Trump Administration's decision to bar H-1B and other work visas through the end of the year. Durbin, Pascrell, and Khanna are sponsors of bipartisan, bicameral legislation to reform and close loopholes in the H-1B and L-1 visa programs. The H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act will reduce fraud and abuse, provide… Continue Reading