'Stand with the Ag Lab': Sen. Dick Durbin decries federal job cuts in Peoria

Yahoo

07-03-2025

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., characterized the relationship between Donald Trump and Elon Musk as "on the rocks" Friday in Peoria where he was flanked by Peoria Mayor Rita Ali and workers from the Peoria National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research who all decried the federal cuts levied on the lab by the Trump administration.
The reductions at the Peoria Ag Lab, which saw roughly 20 employees lose their jobs, are part of sweeping cuts of the federal government and bureaucracy that have hit federal workers, leases and contracts as part of an effort by Musk's Department of Government Efficiency to drastically reduce government spending.
Reporting by the New York Times and Washington Post has found that DOGE has in some cases overinflated its purported costs savings from these cuts, and on Friday the New York Times reported that the relationship between Musk and Trump's cabinet may be beginning to fray.
Durbin said Friday that the Republican-held Congress was not going to initiate an investigate into DOGE claims and then signaled that the relationship between Trump and Musk was "on the rocks."
"Last night it was reported that they warned Mr. Musk that he doesn't have the authority to terminate jobs and that responsibility lies with the cabinet," Durbin said. "It's no surprise and you don't have to be a couples' counselor to know that this marriage might be on the rocks and this notion that the president and Mr. Musk are working together is at least questionable as to whether it's true."
Durbin said research that happens at places like the Peoria Ag Lab is "critical to making America great" and said federal cuts like these "trouble me so much."
"There are people who want to talk about making America great again. I believe research is critical to making America great, medical research, agriculture research and research across the board," Durbin said. "The researchers are critical as well."
More: Peoria Ag Lab has been affected by federal cuts. Here's what we know
Durbin also called on all farmers and major farm groups in Illinois to "stand with the Ag Lab."
"We have so many talented people in this building, the Ag Lab, talented people that have come here from all over the United States and beyond, and they've done remarkable things," Durbin said.
Former Peoria city councilmember Beth Jensen was representing U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen, a Democrat from the 17th District, on Friday. She said the Trump administration's cuts put "vital agriculture research and hardworking federal employees at risk."
"The Ag Lab is the largest federal employer in Peoria. Its economic impact on the city and the surrounding community is huge," Jensen said. "And these cuts hurt Peoria."
Durbin, Sorensen and other Democrats signed a letter on Friday that was sent to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins demanding that the government reinstate the jobs at the Peoria Ag Lab.
"Let's hope, let's fight, to keep it here," Jensen said.
Ali said Friday that the Peoria Ag Lab was home to some of the "best researchers in the world" and called it a "travesty" for Peoria to be losing those workers.
"This is one of the, as he said, flagship agricultural laboratories in the country," Ali said. "The workers here, the researchers here, are some of the best in the world — I said in the world. They come from many places across the country to come and live in Peoria or the Peoria region. It a travesty to lose that kind of talent to our city and to our region and I stand with these workers, with these researchers and with Senator Durbin in having to fight, willing to fight to sustain this center and the research and the workers who contribute to our science."
Peoria city council candidate Alex Carmona, who is running for the 2nd District seat that is home to the Ag Lab, attended Durbin's news conference Friday and told the Journal Star afterward that it was a "travesty" to see the cuts, especially given that one of his neighbors was one of those who lost their job at the lab.
More: 'Absolutely devastating': Union leader says Peoria Ag Lab job cuts were 'illegal'
"When it hits home that closely and you know the people who are affected by it... I was just talking to him today and he said the house he just bought he might have to sell it and try to look for a job elsewhere," Carmona said. "Nobody likes it."
Ethan Roberts, president of the Local 3247 American Federation of Government Employees, the union that represents 86 employees at the Ag Lab, said Friday that the country is seeing an "unprecedented treatment of federal workers" and once again characterized the actions of the Trump administration as "illegal."
"We will probably continue to experience attacks on federal workers and the unions that represent them, and I urge everyone who is watching this to contact your congressional representatives, whoever they may be, and ask them to 'please stand up for the rights of federal workers,'" Roberts said Friday.
Former Ag Lab employee Jeannie Klein-Gordon, who was one of the employees who lost their jobs, was an anthropologist studying plant diseases at the Peoria Ag Lab before she received a termination notice last month.
She said Friday "what I know and love is starting to crumble" in response to the federal cuts to researchers like her.
"By cutting these programs and their funding off completely or at the knees by stifling support, we jeopardize the future of American agriculture, the ability to feed our citizens in the future and America's future as a leader in science," Klein-Gordon said.
More: What to know about the 24 federal facilities DOGE says will close in Illinois
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Senator Durbin criticizes Trump-Musk relationship at Peoria Ag Lab