Press Releases
Duckworth Responds to Republican Stunt to Delay Additional COVID Relief Funding for Small Businesses
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) released the following statement after Republicans led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell engaged in a partisan stunt that only delayed the approval of critical additional relief funding for small businesses: "It's clear that despite good intentions, the Paycheck Protection Program isn't being implemented by the Trump Administration as it should be, and small businesses across Illinois and around the country still desperately … Continue Reading
April 09, 2020
Duckworth to Trump Administration: Fix Implementation Issues with SBA Loans Immediately
[WASHINGTON, DC] - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) led seven of her Senate colleagues in writing to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Jovita Carranza and U.S. Department of the Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin about reports that lack of guidance and extreme limitations have kept SBA loans from being properly administered to small business owners across the country. In the letter, the Senators demand Carranza and Mnuchin resolve these implementation issues by … Continue Reading
April 09, 2020
Duckworth Joins Hassan, Colleagues to Call for Action to Prevent Counterfeiting, Price Gouging of Medical Supplies Amid COVID-19 Pandemic
[WASHINGTON, DC] - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and 13 of her colleagues in urging President Donald Trump to act to prevent price gouging, as well as fraudulent and counterfeit supplies, which are hampering efforts to treat patients and combat the spread of COVID-19. "Every day, profiteers and scam artists are taking advantage of desperate buyers and the unprecedented demand for personal protective equipment by charging obscene prices and selling … Continue Reading
April 09, 2020
Duckworth Asks Mnuchin to Provide Maximum Relief Funding to State, County and Local Governments
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) wrote to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to request the agency provide flexibility, fairness and clarity in its guidance for distribution of the relief funds to state, county and local governments. These jurisdictions are facing severe budget crises as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and it's critical they receive the federal support that was allocated by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act. In part, … Continue Reading
April 09, 2020
During the COVID-19 Crisis, Duckworth, Durbin Announce Over $1 Million for Housing Relief in Illinois
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced $1,125,211 in federal funding to various organizations in Illinois to support housing assistance for people living with HIV/AIDS during the COVID-19 pandemic. These investments come from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act through the Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) program, a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) initiative. Aside … Continue Reading
April 08, 2020
Duckworth, Durbin Discuss COVID-19 Response With Chicago Mayor Lightfoot
[WASHINGTON, DC] - Today, U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) spoke with Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot about Chicago's COVID-19 pandemic response and how they can continue to assist her efforts to protect Illinoisans. Durbin and Duckworth discussed strategies to support minority and women owned businesses, protecting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, protecting frontline transit workers and investing in infrastructure to help get people back … Continue Reading
April 08, 2020
Duckworth, Durbin, Grassley, Ernst Call on USDA to Allocate Funds to Biofuel Industry During COVID-19 Pandemic
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Joni Ernst (R-IA) and 11 of their Senate colleagues this week in sending a bipartisan letter requesting additional funds be allocated to the biofuel industry during the unprecedented economic circumstances brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The members called on U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue to allocate these funds through the USDA's Commodity Credit … Continue Reading
April 08, 2020
Duckworth, Durbin Call for Expanding Coronavirus Testing Capability by Providing Flexibility to Testing Laboratories
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL), along with Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), today called on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to provide additional regulatory flexibility to hospitals and private laboratories to enable scaled-up testing capacity for the novel coronavirus. Even as rapid testing is becoming available, hospitals are still facing delays in obtaining patient results and … Continue Reading
April 08, 2020
Duckworth, Durbin Announce More Than $52 Million in Federal Funding to Help Illinois Health Centers Respond to COVID-19
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced that Illinois will receive a total of $52,697,049 in federal grants to support 45 Community Health Centers (CHCs) in their COVID-19 response efforts. This funding comes from the bipartisan Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act that both Durbin and Duckworth voted for to help increase COVID-19 screening and testing needs, acquire medical supplies and protective equipment, and boost … Continue Reading
April 08, 2020
Duckworth, Durbin Write to Mnuchin about Failed Relief Application Process for Aviation Industry Workers
[WASHINGTON, DC] - U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) wrote to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin today about pressing concerns with the application and evaluation processes for accessing the aviation industry workforce stabilization funds included in the CARES Act. To prevent massive layoffs and furloughs, the CARES Act authorized the U.S. Department of Treasury to provide payments to air carrier industry workers. However, Treasury's preliminary guidance did not … Continue Reading
April 08, 2020
Duckworth, Durbin, Colleagues to HHS: Reopen the ACA Marketplace, Allow More Americans To Get Health Insurance During COVID-19 Pandemic
[WASHINGTON, D.C.]-U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined Senators Chris Murphy (D-CT), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and 24 Senate Democrats to urge the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to reopen the Affordable Care Act's online marketplace to allow more un- and under-insured Americans to get health insurance as they face potential health issues related to COVID-19. In a letter to HHS Secretary Alex Azar, the Senators urged HHS to allow Americans to … Continue Reading
April 07, 2020
Duckworth Slams Trump for Removing Inspector General Tasked with Overseeing COVID-19 Funds
[WASHINGTON, D.C.]-U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) released the following statement after President Trump took steps to prevent Acting Inspector General Glenn Fine from serving in his role overseeing the implementation of the more than $2 trillion authorized by the bipartisan CARES Act stimulus: "Democrats worked hard to make sure that strong and transparent oversight was a critical component of the bipartisan COVID-19 relief package passed last month. Right from the beginning, … Continue Reading
April 07, 2020
Duckworth, Durbin, Democratic Colleagues Press Trump Administration on Unemployment Insurance Benefits
[WASHINGTON, DC] – U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and 33 Democratic colleagues today in pressing the Trump Administration to take additional action to ensure workers receive unemployment insurance benefits as quickly as possible. The Senators outlined a number of actions the Administration should take to help states disburse supercharged unemployment insurance: provide technological support, assist … Continue Reading
April 07, 2020
Duckworth Joins Cardin and Colleagues to Urge Trump Administration to Reserve a Portion of Paycheck Protection Program Funding for Underserved Borrowers
[WASHINGTON, D.C.]-U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship Ranking Member Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Senate Democratic leaders today in sending a letter to U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Jovita Carranza and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin urging the Trump administration officials to take steps to ensure that the most vulnerable small businesses have access to the important financial resources … Continue Reading
April 07, 2020
Duckworth Calls for the Resignation of Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly
[WASHINGTON, DC] - Combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), a member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, is calling on the Acting Secretary of the Navy, Thomas Modly, to resign immediately. On Thursday evening, Modly said, in part, regarding his relieving Captain Brett Crozier from command of the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt: "I could reach no other conclusion than that Captain Crozier had allowed the complexity of his challenge with the COVID outbreak on his ship to … Continue Reading
April 07, 2020
Duckworth, Durbin Announce Additional $8 Million In Federal Funding To Support COVID-19 Response In Illinois
[WASHINGTON, DC] - U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded $6.3 million to the State of Illinois and $1.7 million to the City of Chicago to support COVID-19 response. This is in addition to funding previously provided by the CDC, for a total of $23.7 million for Illinois and $12.2 million for Chicago. "Our nation's health care system and state and local health departments are on the … Continue Reading
April 07, 2020
Duckworth, Durbin Join Van Hollen in Writing Bipartisan Letters in Support of Peace Corps, AmeriCorps Volunteers
[WASHINGTON, DC] - U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and nearly two dozen of their Senate colleagues in sending two bipartisan letters seeking clarity on unemployment benefits and work opportunities for Peace Corps, AmeriCorps and other national service participants. In the first letter, the Members urge Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia to clarify that the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program passed within the CARES Act … Continue Reading
April 05, 2020
Duckworth Statement on Trump’s Firing of Widely Respected Inspector General Michael Atkinson
[WASHINGTON, DC] - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) issued the following statement after Donald Trump fired Inspector General of the Intelligence Community Michael Atkinson, whose handling of the Ukraine whistleblower complaint was described as "by the book" by Michael Horowitz, the U.S. Department of Justice Inspector General and Chair of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency: "Once again, Donald Trump puts his own self-interest ahead of the public interest. … Continue Reading
April 04, 2020
Duckworth to Pence: Immediately Use Defense Production Act Authority to Effectively Coordinate Distribution of Medical Supplies
[WASHINGTON, DC] - U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Gary Peters (D-MI) yesterday wrote to U.S. Vice President Mike Pence requesting President Trump direct the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to exercise its authority under the Defense Production Act (DPA) to improve the distribution of medical supplies to hospitals, frontline providers and first responders across the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Senators also called on Trump to direct … Continue Reading
April 04, 2020
Duckworth, Durbin Join Bipartisan Letter Urging USDA to Ensure Continuity of Food Supply by Supporting Farmers During COVID-19 Pandemic
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), John Hoeven (R-ND), and 30 of their colleagues in writing a bipartisan letter to Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, urging the Administration to ensure the continuity of our country's food supply and to support rural areas during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic by providing needed relief to farmers. "We write to ask that you take action to ensure the continuity of … Continue Reading
