U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin talked about his life in politics as the Illinois legislature honored him during an appearance Wednesday at the state capitol in Springfield.
Durbin is retiring from the Senate in January 2027. Fellow Democrat Juliana Stratton and Republican Don Tracy are running to replace him in the November election. Durbin was elected to the Senate in 1996 and has been the Democratic whip since 2005.
Prior to arriving in the Senate, Durbin served in the U.S. House of Representatives, elected for the first time in 1982 and representing the Springfield-based 20th Congressional District.
On Wednesday, the General Assembly honored Durbin for his time in office, with some Democratic lawmakers speaking about the impact Durbin has had on their lives.
State Sen. Mike Simmons of Chicago used to work at the front desk at Durbin’s office and then worked as a legislative assistant.
Simmons said when working for Durbin, he got letters he could not understand, adding it's easy in politics to sometimes ignore letters or phone calls you do not understand.
“The thing the senator taught me at the time and several other of the young aides was think about what they are actually trying to say. If your life depended on you understanding that letter or that phone call, would you figure out how to address that person’s issue,” Simmons said.
As a lawmaker, Simmons said that became a guiding principle for him and his interactions with the public.
Durbin gave a speech about his time as a senator, reflecting on his support for several key initiatives, including the DREAM [Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors] Act, DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] and Medicaid.
Durbin said the DREAM Act started with a person from Chicago who was brought to the U.S. as a young girl, which prevented her from going to college.
“This young girl had one option and that was to leave the United States for 10 years to apply to come back," Durbin said. "When [my assistant] told me that, I said that cannot be true. She said that’s the law, boss. I said the law needs to change.”
Durbin said then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama supported the DREAM Act when he was in the Senate. When he was president, they drafted DACA, an executive order that allows young immigrants who were brought by their parents to get temporary status to work and study.
The DREAM Act did not pass Congress and the Trump administration has changed DACA making it more difficult for people to stay in the United States.
Another issue Durbin mentioned was access to pediatric dentists for kids on Medicaid who have to wait months to a year for care.
Durbin said cuts to Medicaid could make it harder for kids on Medicaid to see a pediatric dentist because Illinois would have less money to distribute for the Medicaid program.
“We are not making it any easier for you as members of the legislature to provide Medicaid assistance for whatever it may be. I do hope you consider working on this legislation,” he said, noting they also are getting the authorizations for a pediatric dentist at OSF in Peoria.
At the end of his speech, Durbin compared the current political divide to the divide during Lincoln’s presidency, adding if people do not trust elections, a constitutional democracy cannot function.
“Today, we meet five months before a national election. Debates in Congress and contests in our courts indicate this next election may be challenged in ways never seen before in our history,” Durbin said.
Durbin said that the U.S. needs to learn from Lincoln so that the nation is not divided, and that his life has been enriched by helping people from Illinois and across the nation.
