Durbin Calls Out Republicans For Prioritizing Funding For Trump’s Mass Deportation Agenda Over The Affordability Crisis Hurting American Families

April 22, 2026
Durbin Calls Out Republicans For Prioritizing Funding For Trump’s Mass Deportation Agenda Over The Affordability Crisis Hurting American Families
Durbin: “Republicans are responsible for the chaos we face, and Americans increasingly wonder: what have they done to help their families? My colleagues will need to find a better answer to that question than the current agenda of the Republican Congress.”
WASHINGTON – In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, called out Republicans for prolonging the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shutdown instead of addressing the affordability crisis that is hurting American families. Durbin began by noting that during the first year of his second term, President Trump added $1.4 billion to his personal wealth through shady cryptocurrency ventures and licensing deals with individuals tied to foreign governments.
“Last week, President Trump was asked to assess the state of the economy. He said, and I quote, that he was ‘very happy.’ This is one of the rare moments where I can understand the President’s thinking—in his eyes and the eyes of his billionaire friends, the economy has never been better,”
Durbin said.
“He has made more money in office than any other President in the history of the United States. And for his billionaire friends, the returns from the past year have been equally impressive.”
According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, at least 88 of some of the largest corporations—including Tesla, Coinbase, and Palantir—made more than $105 billion in 2025. But they paid zero dollars in federal income tax because of the Republican’s
One Big Beautiful Bill Act
. Collectively, billionaires added $1.5 trillion to their wealth in 2025 alone—a 22 percent increase in just one year.
“It is no wonder the President is so bullish about the state of the economy when everyone he golfs with is raking in record profits,”
Durbin said.
“Ask anyone who isn’t part of the wealthy elite that President Trump surrounds himself with, and they will tell you that they feel abandoned by the President who promised to lower prices for families ‘on day one.’ His war with Iran, reckless tariffs against our trading partners, and cuts and chaos across the federal government have damaged the economy and pushed many families to the breaking point.”
Durbin continued,
“In March, the consumer price index, the leading measure of inflation, rose to 3.3 percent after the President’s Iran war spiked oil prices and increased uncertainty for business owners. Nearly one in 10 people nationwide who were on
Affordable Care Act
[plans] last year were forced to drop their health insurance altogether after the President and Republicans in Congress cut Medicaid and the ACA by hundreds of billions of dollars. The price of groceries, child care, rent, utility bills, and many other basic necessities keep going up. And the President and Republicans in Congress have not done nearly enough to help Americans make ends meet.”
This week, Republicans are attempting to pass a partisan budget reconciliation bill that funds U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) without any commonsense reforms while they continue to hold up a bipartisan deal that would fund every agency within DHS—except ICE and CBP. The bipartisan deal that has passed the Senate unanimously on two separate occasions would fund the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and other important DHS functions, but House Republicans refuse to put it on the floor for consideration until ICE and CBP are funded.
“This week in the Senate, instead of voting on legislation that would lower costs, Senate Republicans have chosen to focus their efforts on a party-line package—a package that would give ICE and CBP up to $140 billion to continue the Administration’s reckless, cruel, and deadly mass deportation campaign,”
Durbin said.
“They already provided a $170 billion slush fund for border and interior enforcement last June, but they insist that it was not enough. Imagine the potential if they put their energy into making America more affordable instead this agenda.”
Durbin concluded,
“Americans have lost faith in a President who is more focused on his own bottom line than enriching his country and Republican leadership that would rather deport hardworking families than help them afford the basics. Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the Presidency. They are responsible for the chaos we face, and Americans increasingly wonder: what have Republicans done to help their families? My colleagues will need to find a better answer to that question than the current agenda of the Republican Congress. Or Americans will make their dissatisfaction known in November—and usher in the beginning of the end of President Trump’s last term in office.”
Video of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available
here
.
Audio of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available
here
.
Footage of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available
here
for TV Stations.
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