US Senator Dick Durbin is saying efforts to cut off federal funding for Planned Parenthood are misguided.

Several defunding measures have been brought up by members of Congress since an anti-abortion group called the Center for Medical Progress began releasing footage supposedly showing Planned Parenthood officials negotiating sales of fetal tissue from abortions.

Durbin was quick to point out federal funds aren’t used on abortions.

U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) is also against defunding the group, one of the few Republicans in Congress to publicly express that view.

In other state news,people who want to preserve state subsidies for Amtrak want Gov. Bruce Rauner to know they have not gone away.

A news conference featuring state lawmakers from college towns along the rails praised Rauner for wanting to tackle the budget deficit but pointed out the Amtrak subsidy, which Rauner wants to cut by forty percent, comes from a fuel tax and not from the general revenue fund.

They added the trains are an economic engine, especially to college towns like Champaign/Urbana and Bloomington/Normal.