Dick Durbin facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Dick Durbin
Official portrait, 2022
Senate Minority Whip
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2025
Leader	Chuck Schumer
Preceded by	John Thune
Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2025
Preceded by	Lindsey Graham
Senate Majority Whip
In office January 20, 2021 – January 3, 2025
Leader	Chuck Schumer
Preceded by	John Thune
Succeeded by	John Barrasso
Party positions 2005–⁠2021 Senate Majority Whip In office January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2015 Leader Harry Reid Preceded by Mitch McConnell Succeeded by John Cornyn Senate Minority Whip In office January 3, 2015 – January 20, 2021 Leader Harry Reid Chuck Schumer Preceded by John Cornyn Succeeded by John Thune In office January 3, 2005 – January 3, 2007 Leader Harry Reid Preceded by Harry Reid Succeeded by Trent Lott
Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee
In office February 3, 2021 – January 3, 2025
Preceded by	Lindsey Graham
Succeeded by	Chuck Grassley
United States Senator from Illinois
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 1997 Serving with Tammy Duckworth
Preceded by	Paul Simon
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 20th district
In office January 3, 1983 – January 3, 1997
Preceded by	Paul Findley
Succeeded by	John Shimkus
Personal details
Born	Richard Joseph Durbin (1944-11-21) November 21, 1944 (age 80) East St. Louis, Illinois, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Loretta Schaefer ​ (m. 1967)​
Children	3
Residences	Springfield, Illinois, U.S.
Education	Georgetown University (BS, JD)
Signature

Richard Joseph Durbin (born November 21, 1944) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Illinois, a seat he has held since 1997. A member of the Democratic Party, Durbin is in his fifth Senate term and has served since 2005 as the Senate Democratic whip (the second-highest position in the Democratic leadership in the Senate) and since 2025 as the Senate minority whip. He chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee from 2021 to 2025, and led the Ketanji Brown Jackson Supreme Court nomination hearings.

Durbin was born in East St. Louis, Illinois. He graduated from the School of Foreign Service and the Georgetown University Law Center. Working in state legal counsel throughout the 1970s, he made an unsuccessful run for lieutenant governor of Illinois in 1978. He later maintained a private law practice and co-owned a pub in Springfield. Durbin was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982, representing the Springfield-based 20th congressional district.

After serving seven House terms, Durbin was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996 and reelected in 2002, 2008, 2014, and 2020. He has served as the Senate Democratic whip since 2005—under Harry Reid until 2017, and under Chuck Schumer since 2017. During that time, he had two stints as Senate majority whip (from 2007 to 2015, and since 2021), and two as minority whip (from 2005 to 2007 and from 2015 to 2021). As of 2024, Durbin is the longest-serving Senate party whip in U.S. history. He is the dean of Illinois's congressional delegation.

Early life, education and career

Durbin was born in East St. Louis, Illinois, to an Irish-American father, William Durbin, and a Lithuanian-born mother, Anna (née Kutkin; Lithuanian: Ona Kutkaitė). He graduated from Assumption High School in East St. Louis in 1962. During his high school years he worked at a meatpacking plant. He earned a B.S. from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 1966. Durbin interned in Senator Paul Douglas's office during his senior year in college, and worked on Douglas's unsuccessful 1966 reelection campaign. Durbin adopted the nickname "Dick", which he did not previously use, after Douglas mistakenly called him by that name.

Durbin earned his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1969 and was admitted to the Illinois bar later that year. After graduating from law school, Durbin started a law practice in Springfield. He was legal counsel to Lieutenant Governor Paul Simon from 1969 to 1972, and then legal counsel to the Illinois State Senate Judiciary Committee from 1972 to 1982. Durbin was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the Illinois State Senate in 1976. From 1976 to 1981 he co-owned the Crow's Mill Pub in Springfield's Toronto neighborhood, which he later described as a "crash course" in running a business. He ran for lieutenant governor in 1978 as the running mate of State Superintendent of Schools Michael Bakalis. They were defeated by Republican incumbents Jim Thompson and Dave O'Neal. Durbin then worked as an adjunct professor of medical law at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine for five years while maintaining his law practice.

U.S. House of Representatives

In 1982, Durbin won the Democratic nomination for the 20th congressional district, which included Macon and most of Springfield. He scored a 1,400-vote victory, defeating 22-year incumbent Paul Findley, a U.S. Navy veteran, whose district lines had been substantially redrawn to remove rural farms and add economically depressed Macon. This replaced 35% of the voters and included more Democrats as part of the decennial redistricting. Durbin's campaign emphasized unemployment and financial difficulties facing farmers, and told voters that electing him would send "a message to Washington and to President Reagan that our economic policies are not working." Durbin benefited from donations by pro-Israel groups, especially AIPAC, that opposed Findley's advocacy on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the year before the election. Durbin was reelected six times, rarely facing substantial opposition, and winning more than 55% of the vote in each election except 1994.

U.S. Senate

Durbin during the 108th Congress

Durbin speaks during the final night of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, introducing his party's nominee, fellow Illinoisan Barack Obama

In 1996, Durbin defeated Pat Quinn to become the Democratic nominee to replace the retiring Senator Paul Simon, a longtime friend. He faced Republican State Representative Al Salvi in the general election. Although the election had been expected to be competitive, Durbin benefited from Bill Clinton's 18-point win in Illinois that year and defeated Salvi by 15 points. He was reelected in 2002, 2008, 2014 and 2020, each time by at least 10 points.

Committee assignments

Durbin's committee assignments for the 118th Congress are as follows:

• Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
  • Subcommittee on Commodities, Risk Management, and Trade
  • Subcommittee on Rural Development and Energy
  • Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, Poultry, Local Food Systems, and Food Safety and Security
• Committee on Appropriations
  • Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development
  • Subcommittee on Defense
  • Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government
  • Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
  • Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
  • Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
• Committee on the Judiciary (Chair)

Caucus memberships

• Bi-Cameral High-Speed & Intercity Passenger Rail Caucus
• Caucus on International Narcotics Control (co-chair)
• International Conservation Caucus
• Senate Diabetes Caucus
• Senate Hunger Caucus (co-chair)
• Senate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Education Caucus (co-chair)
• Sportsmen's Caucus
• Congressional COPD Caucus (co-chair)
• Senate Ukraine Caucus (co-chair)
• Afterschool Caucuses
• Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus
• Congressional Coalition on Adoption

Leadership

Durbin eating lunch with President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

In November 1998, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle appointed Durbin Assistant Democratic Whip. After the 2004 election, Durbin became the Democratic Whip in the 109th Congress. He became the first senator from Illinois to serve as a Senate Whip since Everett Dirksen in the late 1950s, and the fifth to serve in Senate leadership. Durbin served as assistant minority leader from 2005 to 2007, when the Democrats became the majority party in the Senate. He then assumed the role of assistant majority leader, or majority whip.

In addition to his caucus duties, Durbin chairs the Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government.

In 2000, Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore reportedly considered asking Durbin to be his running mate for Vice President of the United States. Gore ultimately chose Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman.

When Majority Leader Harry Reid faced a difficult reelection fight in 2010, some pundits predicted a possibly heated fight to succeed him between Durbin and Senator Chuck Schumer, who is well known for his fund-raising prowess. Reid's reelection rendered such speculation moot. Upon Reid's retirement announcement in 2015, Durbin, Reid, and Schumer were aligned in elevating Schumer to party leader and Durbin to retain the Whip position.

In 2021, Durbin became Senate Majority Whip again for the 117th Congress, as well as becoming chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. This is the first time that the whip of either party has served as chair of this committee.

Political positions

Durbin and Bob Menendez with Venezuela's interim President Juan Guaidó in February 2020

In 2006, the National Journal rated Durbin as the most liberal U.S. senator. According to the 2019 Govtrack report card, he had the tenth-most left-leaning voting record in the Senate.

Gun control

Durbin supports a national assault weapon ban.

He has repeatedly called for expanded gun control laws.

Immigration

Durbin is the chief proponent of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. The bill would provide certain students who entered or were brought to the nation illegally with the opportunity to earn conditional permanent residency if they arrived in the U.S. as children; graduated from a U.S. high school; have been in the country continuously for at least five years before the bill's enactment; submit biometric data; pass a criminal background check; and complete two years toward a four-year degree from an accredited university or complete at least two years in the military within a five-year period. In 2013, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center presented Durbin with the inaugural Nancy Pelosi Award for Immigration & Civil Rights Policy for his leadership on this issue.

On January 28, 2013, Durbin was a member of a bipartisan group of eight senators, the Gang of Eight, which announced principles for comprehensive immigration reform (CIR).

In October 2019, Durbin blocked the passage of S.386, the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act, which aims to eliminate the per-country numerical limitation for all employment-based immigrants and to increase the per-country limitation for all family-sponsored immigrants from 7% to 15%. He was one of the original co-sponsors of a similar bill, in the 112th Congress (2011–2012). The only difference between the two versions is that S.1983 had the language "includes nationals of Ireland coming to the United States under a treaty of commerce to perform specialty occupation services" in the nonimmigrant E-3 visa category.

Durbin speaks at a press conference in El Paso, TX with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, along with Vice President Kamala Harris and Representative Veronica Escobar.

Durbin argued that bill S.386 would prioritize people of Indian and Chinese origin, who have been in the green card backlog for years, at the expense of future immigrants from other countries. After blocking S.386, he proposed his own bill, which would almost triple the number of employment-based green cards and eliminate country caps. Durbin agreed that his bill would not pass in the current administration.

Child care

Durbin meeting with Raj Date, then acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to discuss helping consumers compare bank fees

In 2019, Durbin and 34 other senators introduced the Child Care for Working Families Act. The bill was expected to create 770,000 new child care jobs and ensure families under 75% of the state median income would not pay for child care, with higher-earning families having to pay "their fair share for care on a sliding scale, regardless of the number of children they have." The legislation also supported universal access to high-quality preschool programs for all three- and four-year-olds. Additionally, it would have changed child care compensation and training to aid both teachers and caregivers. The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, where it did not receive a hearing or vote.

Environment

Among Durbin's legislative causes are environmental protection, particularly the protection of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The League of Conservation Voters gives him a rating of 89%. Sierra Club gives him a 90% rating.

Transportation

Durbin has been a major proponent of expanded Amtrak funding and support.

Electoral history

Personal life

Family

Durbin and his wife Loretta have had three children, Christine, Jennifer and Paul. After several weeks in the hospital with complications due to a congenital heart condition, Christine died on November 1, 2008, at age 40.

As of 2023, according to CAKnowledge.com, Durbin's net worth is $10 million. In June 2024, Durbin underwent a hip replacement surgery.

Conflict of interest issues

Durbin's wife was a lobbyist, and it was reported by the Chicago Tribune in 2014 that some of her "clients have received federal funding promoted by [Durbin]". In addition to announcing the award of monies to ten clients of his wife's lobbying firm, these conflicts included her lobbying firm receiving a one-year contract with a housing nonprofit group around the time Durbin went to bat for the organization; a state university receiving funds through an earmark by Durbin when his wife was its lobbyist; and Durbin arranging federal money for a public health nonprofit when his wife was seeking state support for the same group. The Durbins maintain that they try to avoid conflicts of interest.

Religion

Durbin is Roman Catholic. ..... The current bishop of the diocese said Durbin stays away from his Springfield parish because "he doesn't want to make a scene". Durbin responded to the communion ban in 2004 that he is accountable to his constituents, even if it means defying Church teachings. In 2018, Bishop Thomas John Paprocki affirmed the decision to deny Durbin communion in the Springfield Diocese after Durbin's vote against the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.

In 2017, Durbin was criticized for requesting a clarification from then Court of Appeals nominee Amy Coney Barrett during her Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing about her self-descriptive terminology "orthodox Catholic." ..... Barrett had written in an article that "litigants and the general public are entitled to impartial justice, and that may be something that a judge who is heedful of ecclesiastical pronouncements cannot dispense". Barrett also opined that judges aren't bound by precedent conflicting with the Constitution. She wrote that judges could recuse themselves from hearing matters if their faith conflicted with issues to be decided in cases they might otherwise hear. Senator Dianne Feinstein said, "Senators must inquire about these issues when considering lifetime appointments because ensuring impartiality and fidelity to precedent are critical for the rule of law". The issue prompted questions regarding the application of Article VI, Section 3 of the Constitution, which mandates: "No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."

Film and television appearances

See also

In Spanish: Richard Durbin para niños

• Trump–Ukraine scandal