Patrick Leahy: “One, I wish to applaud the senior Senator from Illinois for his statement, and I will say publicly on the floor of the…”

“One, I wish to applaud the senior Senator from Illinois for his statement, and I will say publicly on the floor of the Senate what I have said to him privately, what I have said to him in our leadership meetings, and what I have said to him in our caucuses, that he is the champion of the DREAM Act. That act--when it finally passes, will give these DREAMers a better life, and there will be one person they can thank most and that will be Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois. Because for the time I have known him--and it has been years--this has been first and foremost over and over again, and I just want to state my admiration for the Senator from Illinois for doing that. ____________________”