Dick Durbin: “At this point, I acknowledge my colleague, Senator Fitzgerald of Illinois, who also voted for the Patients' Bill of…”

“At this point, I acknowledge my colleague, Senator Fitzgerald of Illinois, who also voted for the Patients' Bill of Rights. He has publicly stated he thinks it is the best approach. I think it takes extraordinary courage sometimes to break from your party on these issues. The presiding Senator from Oregon has showed exceptional leadership and courage on the hate crimes issue. This was not an easy issue, I am sure, for him; it was not for any of us. He stood up on that issue. I will remember that for a long time. It was exceptional. We want to make sure we continue in that bipartisan spirit. I hope even in the closing days we might reach out and find some bipartisan common ground to deal with some of these important issues.”