U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin speaks at the Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ Association brunch on Aug. 13, 2025. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Jerry Nowicki)
Article Summary
- Illinois’ Dick Durbin was one of eight Democrats in the U.S. Senate to support a plan on Sunday night to reopen the federal government.
- The plan angered many top Illinois Democrats such as Gov. JB Pritzker and three candidates running to replace Durbin.
- It was the second time this year Durbin supported a funding plan that was at odds with most of his party, who believe a government shutdown gives Democrats leverage to insert policies such as health care tax credits into a final budget.
- Durbin said in a statement the shutdown has been damaging, and the plan will help federal workers and food benefit recipients.
This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin is once again at odds with other prominent Illinois Democrats over a vote that set in motion a plan to end the record-long federal government shutdown.
Durbin, who is not seeking reelection in 2026, was one of eight members in the Senate Democratic caucus to join Republicans in supporting a procedural vote to begin the process of passing legislation to fund the government, which entered its 41st day without a budget on Monday. But that package will not include health care subsidies that Democrats had demanded be included in a bill to reopen the government.
“Republicans finally woke up and realized their Groundhog Day needed to end,” Durbin said in a statement Sunday night. “This bill is not perfect, but it takes important steps to reduce their shutdown’s hurt. Not only would it fully fund SNAP for the year ahead, but it would reverse the mass firings the Trump Administration ordered throughout the shutdown.”
Senate Democrats believe they secured a promise from Senate Republican leaders to hold a Senate vote on the Affordable Care Act tax credits. The tax credits expire at the end of the year, setting the stage for health care premiums to skyrocket. Congressional Democrats have refused for more than a month to vote for any bill that did not include new health care tax credits to rein in costs.
But many of Illinois’ top Democrats are opposed to the Durbin-backed funding plan. It also marks the second time this year Durbin has found himself at odds with Gov. JB Pritzker over a Senate vote to fund the government.
Pritzker, who is widely discussed as a possible 2028 presidential candidate, said he favors continuing to fight President Donald Trump with a government shutdown, which many Democrats believe gives their party leverage to force Republicans to support funding the ACA subsidies.
“This is not a deal — it’s an empty promise,” Gov. JB Pritzker said on social media. “Trump and his Republican Congress are making healthcare more expensive for the middle class and ending it for working families. Time for Democrats to stand tall for affordable healthcare.”
Durbin also sided with Republicans in March and voted for the spending plan that kept the government open through September. That triggered outrage from many Democrats who favored shutting down the government at the time to make it harder for Trump to implement his agenda.
Pritzker said in March that Durbin’s decision was a “huge mistake,” and he was “dead wrong.”
Congressional Dems doubt leverage
The Senate’s vote on Sunday sets the stage for the chamber to pass substantive legislation to fund the government through Jan. 30, but it will require the House’s approval and Trump’s signature first. That timeline remains unclear.
CNN reported the plan would fully fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits through next September and reverses Trump’s firing of federal workers during the shutdown.
Durbin said Republicans own the blame for the shutdown, adding he believes Democrats can claim victory with the vote.
“Now that Democrats secured these wins, it’s time for Leader (John) Thune to keep his promise to schedule a vote on the ACA tax credits in December, and we will see to it that he makes good on his word for the millions of Americans worried they won’t be able to afford health care in January,” Durbin said.
Many, including Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, want congressional Democrats to continue holding out for ACA tax credits.
“I simply cannot, and I will not, vote to do nothing to help protect them (families) from Trump’s vindictive and malicious efforts in exchange for a vague promise from the least trustworthy Republican party in our nation’s history,” Duckworth said in a statement after voting against the procedural vote on Sunday.
U.S. Rep. Sean Casten, a Democrat from Downers Grove, ripped Durbin and the seven other Senate Democrats who sided with Republicans. He said on social media that Democrats “trusting” Republicans on an ACA vote is like “a liar convincing a sucker.”
“A sucker for believing the lie, and for believing (House Speaker Mike) Johnson will ever bring it up in the House,” he wrote.
Candidates disagree with Durbin
The three leading Democrats running to replace Durbin are all opposed to the plan to reopen the government.
“The Republican shutdown has caused immense suffering for Illinois families, and that pain will be compounded exponentially because Democrats let the GOP off the hook,” Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton said in a statement. “While we all want to see food assistance fully funded and federal workers paid and protected, healthcare for millions of Americans cannot be the tradeoff. An empty promise is not enough.”
Stratton also publicly criticized Durbin’s vote in March.
Reps. Robin Kelly, of Lynwood, and Raja Krishnamoorthi, of Schaumburg, said they will vote against the funding plan whenever it arrives in the House.
“We will not cave to broken promises from Trump and the GOP who have sold the American people a bill of goods on so many things, but especially their access to quality healthcare,” Kelly said in a statement.
Krishnamoorthi said his red line will continue to be whether ACA credits are preserved.
“I lived through more than 50 attempts by Donald Trump in his first term to repeal Obamacare and continued statements that he’s going to gut the Affordable Care Act now,” Krishnamoorthi said in a video statement on Monday. “So I cannot in good conscious believe that all of the sudden he’s going to take actions right now to strengthen Obamacare.”
Bill signals end to flight delays, SNAP woes
Illinois has seen escalating impacts from the record government shutdown.
About 2 million people have been stuck in limbo this month over whether they will receive federal food benefits from SNAP. The U.S. Department of Agriculture told states last month that they would not distribute November SNAP benefits as the shutdown continued.
Whether USDA must use contingency funds to pay full benefits has been an ongoing legal battle in the federal court system since Nov. 1.
Travelers through Chicago’s airports could also see some relief when the government reopens. A growing number of air traffic controllers have called out of work after not getting paid for the last month, leading the Federal Aviation Administration last week to require airlines to cancel flights at 40 airports, including O’Hare and Midway, because of staffing shortages that cause delays to stack up.
O’Hare was one of the worst airports for delays on Sunday, according to FlightAware, with 16% of departures canceled and 53% delayed.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
