Senator Durbin criticizes the Trump-Musk relationship in the Peoria Ag

deleciousfood | March 14, 2025 | farming | No Comments

At a press conference in Peoria, Durbin decreed the cuts and said that research is essential in the United States.
A letter signed by Durbin, Sorensen and others ask the government to restore jobs at Peoria Lab.
An employee who was recently dismissed said that the cuts endangered the future of American agriculture.

Friday, the American senator 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 the mayor of Peoria Rita Ali and workers of the National Center for Agricultural Center for Agricultural Use Research who all hated the federal cuts perceived on the laboratory by the administration of Trump.

The reductions of Peoria AG Lab, who have seen around 20 employees lose their jobs, are part of the federal government and bureaucracy reductions that have struck federal workers, leases and contracts as part of an effort by the Musk government’s efficiency department to considerably reduce government spending.

The report of the New York Times and the Washington Post revealed that Doge has in some cases too much have been reduced to its so -called cost savings in these cuts, and Friday, the New York Times reported that the relationship between Musk and Trump’s cabinet will start to crash.

Durbin said on Friday that the Congress held by the Republicans was not going to initiate an investigation into Doge’s statements and then pointed out that the relationship between Trump and Musk was “on the rocks”.

“Last night, it was reported that they warned Mr. Musk that he did not have the power to end the jobs and that the responsibility is the responsibility of the cabinet,” said Durbin. “It is not a surprise and you do not need to be an advisor to a couple to know that this marriage could be on the rocks and this notion that the president and Mr. Musk work together is at least questionable as for whether it is true.”

Durbin said that research that occurs in places like the Peoria AG laboratory are “essential to make America large” and have declared that federal cuts like these “settle so”.

“There are people who want to talk about making America again great. I think research is essential to make America great, medical research, agricultural research and research at all levels,” said Durbin. “Researchers are also essential.”

Durbin also called all farmers and large agricultural groups in Illinois to “stand with the AG laboratory”.

“We have so many talented people in this building, the AG laboratory, talented people who came here from everywhere in the United States and beyond, and they have done remarkable things,” said Durbin.

The former member of the Peoria municipal council, Beth Jensen, represented on Friday the American representative Eric Sorensen, democrat of the 17th district. She said the Trump administration cuts “research in vital agriculture and federal workers”.

“The AG laboratory is the largest federal employer in Peoria. Its economic impact on the city and the surrounding community is enormous,” said Jensen. “And these cuts injured Peoria.”

Durbin, Sorensen and other Democrats signed a letter on Friday which was sent to the Secretary of American Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, demanding that the government restore jobs to Peoria Ag Lab.

“Hopefully, we beat, to keep it here,” said Jensen.

Ali said on Friday that the Peoria AG laboratory sheltered some of the “best researchers in the world” and called her a “parody” for Peoria to lose these workers.

“This is one of the country’s flagship agricultural laboratories,” said Ali. “The workers here, the researchers here are among 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 in the Peoria region. It is a parody of losing this type of talent in our city and our region and I stand with these workers, with these researchers and with the senators who contribute to the struggle, to fight to keep this center contribute to us to fight. “

The candidate for the municipal council of Peoria, Alex Carmona, who presents himself for the seat of the 2nd district which houses the AG laboratory, attended the Durbin press conference on Friday and told the star of the newspaper thereafter that it was a “parody” to see the cuts, all the more since one of his neighbors was one of those who lost their job in the laboratory.

“When he strikes the house in close collaboration and you know the people who are affected … I was just talking to him today and he said that the house he had just bought, he could have to sell it and try to look for a job elsewhere,” said Carmona. “No one loves him.”

Ethan Roberts, president of the American Federation of Local Government employees 3247, the union which represents 86 employees of the AG laboratory, said on Friday that the country considered an “unprecedented treatment of federal workers” and once again characterized the actions of the Trump administration as “illegal”.

“We will probably continue to discover attacks on federal workers and unions representing them, and I urge all those who look at this to contact your Congress representatives, whatever they are, and ask them to” defend the rights of federal workers “,” said Roberts on Friday.

The former employee of the AG Lab, Jeannie Klein-Gordon, who was one of the employees who lost their jobs, was an anthropologist studying plant diseases at Peoria Ag Lab before receiving a dismissal notice last month.

She said on Friday “what I know and that I love begins to collapse” in response to the federal cuts to researchers like her.

“By reducing these programs and their completely or kneeling funding by stifling support, compromising us the future of American agriculture, the ability to feed our citizens in the future and the future of America as a leader in science,” said Klein-Gordon.

Related Posts

Add a Comment