Dick Durbin.

Noted for his moderate politics, Democratic senator Dick Durbin's most striking attribute may be his attention to the voters who have made him a representative and senator since 1982.

Early Life

Richard Durbin was born in 1944 in East St. Louis, Illinois. His mother came from a village in Lithuania, and Durbin has on display in his office a copy of her naturalization certificate from 1932. Durbin earned his bachelor of science degree in foreign service and economics from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in 1966 and a juris doctorate in 1969 from Georgetown University School of Law. After graduating, he returned to Illinois to practice law as an attorney with the firm Durbin and Lestikow.

Durbin joined the staff of Illinois lieutenant governor Paul Simon as legal counsel from 1969 to 1972. In 1972, he became legal counsel for the Illinois Judiciary Committee, continuing in that post until 1982, when he was elected to the US House of Representatives to represent Illinois' 20th Congressional District.

Public Service Career

Durbin continued his lengthy tenure representing Illinois voters in Washington, DC, upon his election as a senator in 1996. His Democratic Senate leadership role and posts as a member of committees such as the Senate Judiciary Committee have demonstrated the level of influence Durbin has earned. He has generally made his name as a legislator, however, on policy questions that many political commentators consider to be secondary. He has focused his efforts on gun control and gun safety, consumer protection, federal funding for medical research and increased immunizations, legislation to limit cigarette smoking in public places, and programs to increase health insurance coverage. Durbin has made headlines for authoring legislation to ban smoking on airline flights and for his repeated efforts to spur gun control legislation after school shooting incidents.

He has appealed to the suburban and agricultural areas of Illinois with a moderate position on federal taxes that has included tax credits and deductions to make health insurance coverage more affordable for small business employees, and he has supported measures relating to long-term care insurance, college savings, and childcare. On the local front, Durbin fought Illinois' Republican senator, Peter Fitzgerald, for federal funding to expand Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Durbin attracted national attention during the Bush administration for his opposition to the invasion of Iraq. Durbin continued to argue that the country's financial resources would be more effectively used for programs within the United States.

If political commentators have historically been unimpressed with Durbin's issues, though, his constituents have demonstrated their satisfaction. Since winning his first campaign in 1982 by a slim margin, Durbin's victories have been increasingly convincing over the years. In 2000, Democratic presidential contenders considered Durbin for the vice president position, based in part on Illinois' voting power but also on Durbin's solid and genial reputation. Durbin's record has earned him recognition from several prominent organizations, including the American Medical Association for his work on tobacco use and other public health concerns, from the Transplant Recipients International Organization for his work in organ and tissue donation, and from the Consumer Federation of America and Public Citizen for his work in consumer issues.

In 2005, Durbin became the Senate Democratic whip. He also became the center of controversy due to statements that he made regarding interrogation techniques utilized by US soldiers at Guantanamo Bay. Durbin compared the techniques to those that were used by the Soviet and Nazi regimes. The statements were criticized by many of his constituents but were praised by some members of the press who were concerned with the morality of many US tactics. He later apologized before Congress.

Durbin was reelected to the Senate in 2008, 2014, and 2020. In October 2010, he requested an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) investigation into the politically conservative nonprofit group Crossroads GPS. Durbin alleged that the group was violating regulations pertaining to its tax-exempt, nonprofit status. The same year, he helped pass the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. In 2022, he opposed the US Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, supported tighter gun control measures, and argued for bills that would expedite immigration.

Durbin had three children, the eldest of whom died of a heart condition in 2008, and was living in Springfield, Illinois, with his wife, Loretta Schaefer Durbin.

Bibliography

"About the Chair." Senate Committee on the Judiciary, www.judiciary.senate.gov/about/chair. Accessed 25 Oct. 2024.

“About Dick Durbin.” Dick Durbin United States Senator Illinois, www.durbin.senate.gov/about-dick-durbin. Accessed 17 Oct. 2024.

Dick Durbin U.S. Senator, www.durbinforsenate.com/. Accessed 17 Oct. 2024.