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U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has awarded Illinois organizations grants totaling $9,540,655 to prevent homelessness among veterans and their families. Today’s funding will help pay for outreach, case management, and assistance related to VA benefits. More than $300 million were awarded nationwide today through the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program.

Senate FY17 Energy & Water Bill Includes Kirk-Driven Provisions to Boosts Supercomputer Development, Strengthens Illinois Waterway Infrastructure; Bill Funds National Labs, Waterway Infrastructure, Cybersecurity Improvements

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced $1,163,954 in federal funding for infrastructure improvements and upgrades at Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois. The grant was awarded through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced today that the City of Chicago, Illinois has received $10,210,000 in funding through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Aviation Administration for infrastructure improvements and upgrades at Chicago Midway International Airport. Of this funding, $210,000 will be used to purchase additional equipment. In addition, $10 million will be used for noise mitigation efforts near Chicago Midway International Airport.

U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) today helped pass long-term highway and rail bill that invests $6.3 billion in Illinois highways and transit systems over the next three years and includes Kirk-authored legislation to reform and reauthorize the Export-Import Bank and open access to low-interest financing for freight and passenger rail projects.

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced that the Senate has passed a long-term, bipartisan transportation bill that provides the certainty that businesses and state governments, like Illinois, need to plan critical infrastructure projects and create good-paying jobs. Since the previous long-term transportation bill expired in 2009, Congress has passed 33 stop-gap measures to keep the country’s major transportation and infrastructure programs from shutting down.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced today that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has awarded grants totaling $3,161,281 to communities throughout Illinois. Today’s funding will support and improve the capability of each department to respond to fires and other types of emergencies

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5 Administrator Susan Hedman and other community leaders joined the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD) in unveiling the new disinfection facility at the Calumet Water Reclamation Plant (WRP) on Friday

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) met with the Illinois Farm Bureau today to discuss the importance of continuing to support and invest in Illinois’ agricultural communities. The group discussed the impact of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) long-delayed proposal to set production levels under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and other agricultural priorities

U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) today introduced legislation that would make the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) eligible for a program that speeds completion of rail improvement projects, such as the Red and Purple Lines Modernization program. The Expedite Transit Act, S. 1734, would expand eligibility criteria of a federal transportation funding program to provide local transit agencies such as the CTA with increased access to public-private partnerships and innovative financing

U.S. Senator Mark Kirk today applauded the Senate Appropriations Committee’s passage of an FY 2016 Interior Appropriations bill that includes a Kirk-advanced ban on sewage dumping in the Great Lakes. The Kirk ban on Great Lakes sewage dumping would set a date certain to end dumping in order to protect the Lakes – home to 95 percent of surface fresh water in America. It now heads to the Senate floor for passage

U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), along with U.S. Representatives Robert Dold (R-Ill.-10), Mike Quigley (D-Ill.-5) and Daniel Lipinski (D-Ill.-03) introduced the Great Lakes Water Protection Act (GLWPA), which would set a 2035 deadline to end sewage dumping in the Great Lakes, provide clean water for the next generation, and minimize the economic impact beach closures have on local communities every year.

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Representative Cheri Bustos (IL-17) announced $6,698,797 in federal funding that will go toward infrastructure improvements and upgrades at Chicago Rockford International Airport. The grant will be used to build a terminal building expansion that will help travelers move more efficiently through the gate holding area

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced legislation today that would give veteran-owned small businesses access to surplus federal property, reducing overhead costs and helping these small businesses grow. The Veterans Small Business Enhancement Act would expand the Government Service Administration’s excess federal property program, which makes available items that federal agencies no longer need – from computers and office furniture to tools and construction equipment. Durbin also introduced this bill in the previous Congress

U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), and Al Franken (D-MN) today called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set strong Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) required under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) that provides long-needed certainty to farmers and workers in the biodiesel industry while helping domestic producers grow. They also pressed the EPA to live up to its legal obligation of ending its years-long delay of setting RVOs.