Dick Durbin

Dick Durbin
Richard Joseph "Dick" Durbinis the senior United States Senator from Illinois, in office since 1997. He has been the Assistant Minority Leader, the second highest position in the Democratic Party leadership in the Senate, since 2015...
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth21 November 1944
years people birth-control
Hard to imagine 40 years ago people could be convicted of a crime, fined, sent to prison for using the most common forms of birth control.
country people pathways
We have 11 million people in this country that need a pathway to citizenship.
thinking issues people
We are dealing with the question of the 11 million people paying their taxes, having a path to legalization and, then, ultimately, to citizenship - tough issues, but we are coming together and I think we can do it.
senior hurt people
If we do nothing, as the Republicans suggest, we're going to see health care costs reach a point where small businesses can't afford it and families can't afford it. We're going to see people turned down from pre-existing conditions. We're going to find the Medicare doughnut hole - a gap in coverage that's going to hurt a lot of seniors.
believe call forward full fully held language misleading move people point possible president putting quickly state union
The credibility of the president is on the line. And I believe that he should move forward as quickly as possible to call for a full investigation. We should be able to point to those people fully responsible for putting that misleading language in the State of the Union address. They should be held accountable, and they should be dismissed.
anticipate attack cause critical good harm intelligence interests national people special strike territory trying
It is only with valid, credible, good intelligence that we are able to anticipate someone who is trying to cause harm to the American people or to strike us in our territory or to, frankly, attack our special interests around the world. Intelligence is a critical part of our national defense.
came ideas man office people supposed tyrant wants work worked
He wants to work with people around the world, and he couldn't work with people in his own office. And he's supposed to be open, as our man at the U.N., to ideas from other people. And he's been a real tyrant when it came to people he worked with, who disagreed with him. This man doesn't have the temperament for this job.
consumers coverage families health losing millions necessary risk
it would have put millions of American consumers and families at risk of losing coverage for necessary health care.
mend patriot
We do not want to end the Patriot Act. We want to mend the Patriot Act.
create environment helped likely permissive
At the very least, Mr. Gonzales helped to create a permissive environment that made it more likely that abuses would take place.
hands opportunity
This opportunity is slipping through our hands like grains of sand.
basic candor looking time
There's more candor this time around, which helps, but I'm still looking at some of the basic questions,
largest level magnet talent
We are the largest magnet for this level of talent in the world.
against balance basic favor personal power privacy protecting scales tip
I worry... he will tip the balance of the scales of justice. He will tip the balance against protecting our basic privacy and personal freedoms. He will tip the balance in favor of presidential power even when it violates the law.