Quotes from Dick Durbin

Social Security is the most important social program in America.

We ought to deal with Social Security in a separate conversation that is not part of deficit reduction.

Our soldiers deserve better. They need a plan for success. They need an administration that is honest about the costs of war, human and otherwise, and they need full accountability and oversight on Capitol Hill.

You'll never get progress in Washington until you have a majority, bipartisan majority, that really wants to solve problems.

We want to move forward in a bipartisan fashion to solve our problems.

I've known Al Franken for over 20 years. He is my friend. He was on the floor of the Senate announcing his resignation. I sat just a few feet away from him. He said it was the worst day in his political life. It was a somber feeling. It was a reality.

We all make mistakes. But I'm lucky. Being from Illinois and from the Midwest, we believe in pretty basic fairness. Once you've made a mistake, get up, dust yourself off, and go to work.

I've been there; I've been in the minority before. It humbles the exalted. But that's all right.

If we do nothing, as the Republicans suggest, we're going to see health care costs reach a point where small businesses can't afford it and families can't afford it. We're going to see people turned down from pre-existing conditions. We're going to find the Medicare doughnut hole - a gap in coverage that's going to hurt a lot of seniors.

We happen to believe that emissions going into the atmosphere are not good for us as humans or Mother Earth.

Reducing and removing greenhouse gas emissions spares our planet from the well-documented degradation that we are witnessing on a global basis.

Until we make campaigns affordable, then we're going to have too many members of Congress out rattling the cup with special interest groups.

Everyone, regardless of the mode of expression, has a constitutionally protected right to free speech. But when it comes to freedom of the press, I believe we must define a journalist and the constitutional and statutory protections those journalists should receive.

We need to respect free speech, but we need to respect one another's rights to free speech, too.

Whether you agree or disagree with privatization, two things are obvious. First, taxpayers need to be asking more and better questions before handing over control of critical public assets like a highway, an airport, or a parking meter concession. And second, Uncle Sam is being played for a sucker.

I think for all of us who call East St. Louis part of our heritage, we want to make a better day for the city.

This city of East St. Louis needs a tomorrow.

As a public official, when I take a position, I stand up to explain and defend it. I file annual financial disclosures, campaign finance reports, and have to face the scrutiny of public opinion.

Unfortunately the Republican tax cut will deny important revenues to many states facing their own deficits. This will create greater pressure for higher state and local taxes.

We all join the President in applauding the sacrifices made by our brave men and women in uniform. But we must continue to provide them the tools they need to accomplish the difficult tasks they face.

Flint is to the lead issue what Three Mile Island was to nuclear power. People are stepping back and thinking, 'There still is lead in my home?'

The notion that a company would give up on this nation to get a tax break isn't going to sit well with the American people.

Borrowing 40 cents out of every dollar we spend for missiles or food stamps is unsustainable. And being indebted for generations to China and OPEC does not make American a stronger nation.

It is absolutely unacceptable to single out any political group - right, left, or center - and say we're going to target them. That is unthinkable.