The Public Record
Richard Durbin, commonly known as Dick Durbin, is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Illinois since 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he has held various leadership roles, including Senate Majority Whip. Durbin has been a prominent advocate for issues such as healthcare reform, immigration policy, and gun control. He has also played a significant role in negotiations on budget and appropriations matters in the Senate.
more than most people, a Senator lives by his words. Words are the coin of the realm in our profession. Occasionally, words will fail us. Occasionally, we will fail words. On June 14, I took the floor of the Senate to speak about genuine…
The comparison related to interrogation techniques. It is clear, and I will state it for the record, that the horrors visited on humanity by those regimes were far greater than these interrogation techniques. But the point I was trying to…
It is a comparison in the form of interrogation that a repressive regime goes too far, that a democracy never reaches that extreme. But to say that I am in any way diminishing the other horrors brought on by these regimes is plain wrong…
I am happy to yield. Mr. McCONNELL. I want to make sure I understand this correctly: Is it my understanding that my good friend from Illinois stands by his own words, because he read them again today, and it is his view that even if this…
if I understand the rules of the Senate, I am supposed to address the Senator in the form of a question, and that makes it impossible for me to make a statement at this point.
I am sure many people have been following closely the debate on the Energy bill, an 800-page bill that is trying to set the energy policy for America. It is an important piece of legislation we have debated for several years. It has so…
I hate to live under that standard, but I will proceed nevertheless, at my peril, to discuss this bill. This 800-page bill is our energy bill. We have been working on it for years. No one has worked harder than the Senator from New Mexico…
Maybe I could make an alternative suggestion to the chairman. I will speak until I receive a signal from him that he wants to speak for any reason.
So I don't believe there is any question about its authenticity in terms of it being a document in the position of our Government. In terms of the content of the document, almost a year has passed since this was written, and if it were…
In a hearing yesterday before the Senate Judiciary Committee we heard there is a real controversy within this administration as to whether the people being held in Guantanamo have any rights to due process. The Senator mentioned due…
What I have said is, if you were asked, without being told where this might have occurred, as I said here directly in the Record, you might conclude that it was done by one of those repressive regimes because that was the kind of…
my staff contacted me to alert me that several of my colleagues had come to the Senate floor to address statements that I made on the floor on June 14, 2005. Those statements related to the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo. The…
I would say, in response to the Senator from Kentucky, in this particular incident that I read, from an FBI agent describing in detail the methods that were used on prisoners, was I trying to say: Isn't this the kind of thing that we see…
Yes. Mr. McCONNELL. Is the Senator aware that Pol Pot murdered 1 to 2 million of his fellow countrymen, the Nazis murdered from 6 to 9 million men, women, and children, mainly Jews, and the Soviets, in their gulags, murdered some estimated…
I rise in support of the Cantwell amendment and ask unanimous consent to be added as a cosponsor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
What the Senator from New York failed to note--and I was about to interrupt him, but since I live with him, I interrupt him all the time--I just live with him in Washington, incidentally; there is a family situation otherwise. What I was…
This is probably a task we should not undertake because it is momentous, but we will try anyway. This is the Energy bill. It is a big bill, as you can tell. I sat down and did something kind of unique: I decided to read it, just to decide…
today I and my colleague Senator Obama are introducing a private relief bill on behalf of Diana Gejac Engstrom. This bill would grant legal permanent residency status to Ms. Engstrom. The Engstrom story is one of service. Both the late…
It is not too late. I hope we will learn from history. I hope we will change course. The President could declare the United States will apply the Geneva Conventions to the war on terrorism. He could declare, as he should, that the United…
this is an issue that will be considered by the Senate later this evening, an issue of historic importance. It will be an official apology by the Senate for the Senate's failure to protect victims of lynching in America. Fifty years ago…
this editorial from the Chicago Sun-Times urges people to attend the exhibit and notes that ``many young Chicagoans probably do not know how widespread this crime was or that it occurred outside of the South in places such as downstate…
good teachers lead to good students. In fact, recent evidence suggests that providing great teachers may be the single most important thing that we can do to give our children the good education they deserve. Most of our teachers are…
on a separate subject, there was a decision reached this week by the Department of Justice which was very troubling. A lawyer sold out his client. It happens all the time. It is wrong, but it happens. What makes this case unique is the…
Politicians like Dick Durbin
