Dick Durbin

Last week, Senator Inouye of Hawaii, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, proposed a bill to fund the government through the end of this fiscal year. It is hard to believe we are almost halfway through this year and still…

I have been around Congress a few years. When I served in the House of Representatives 16 years ago, the Republicans won control of Congress for the first time in 40 years. They promised to change how business was done in Washington and…

I rise to speak about the issue of interchange fee reform. Last year, Congress enacted landmark reform of the swipe fees that Visa and MasterCard impose on the debit card system. An amendment I offered to Wall Street reform passed the…

I urge my colleagues to read it. It shows how Visa leveraged its dominance in the credit card industry to enter into and dominate the debit card industry. Visa then changed the debit interchange fee system so it looked like the credit card…

Today, I am introducing the Medicare Prescription Drugs Savings and Choice Act of 2011, a bill that would save taxpayer dollars by giving Medicare beneficiaries the choice to participate in a Medicare Part D prescription drug plan run by…

Now, Kahr is no mouthpiece for merchants. He is a financial consultant who is recognized as the creator of many aspects of the modern card industry. But he says what I have been saying for months--that the arguments small banks have been…

Overall, the Senate CR includes $23.25 billion for financial services accounts. This represents a cut of $2.268 billion, or 9 percent, below the President's fiscal year 2011 budget request of $25.518 billion. Compared to the fiscal year…

I know the debt is a serious problem facing America. I know the deficit is something that threatens our economy and our way of living. I also know there are sensible, thoughtful ways to deal with it. One of them was addressed by the…

I commend him for his continued commitment to tackling this important issue.

There are bad actors in this industry, despite the claims of every lobbyist that their client is one of the good ones.

We know that 25 percent of for-profit college students will default on their Federal loans within 3 years of leaving school.

Student loans are different than other debts. They are not dischargeable in bankruptcy. A student loan you will carry to the grave.

The Federal direct student loan program... has made such a difference.

The rate of growth of student indebtedness in our country is alarming.

But I have become deeply troubled by what I see happening in higher education today.

Biomedical research is one of the engines that drive our economy.

I have always felt the same way about Pell grants because, rather than loans, this is money that a student does not have to repay.

I would hope that the--that this body would do the right thing and extend it on its own, if possible.

For the first time in the history of our country, student loan debt exceeded credit card debt in America.

Treatment choices should be made between doctors and patients, rather than by folks in Washington, DC.

It was the public outcry, your outcry, Representative DeLauro, the professional societies that I think actually turned the tide.

This is such an example of public service and why government matters.

I have been disappointed, sadly disappointed, by the limited, if negligible, standards for accreditation.

I think you spoke out quite strongly about the Makena situation and I think brought a lot of attention to a circumstance that really was deeply troubling.

The House continuing resolution H.R. 1 would cut administrative funding for SSA by $125 million below last year's level.