[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 70 (Monday, April 28, 2025)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2594-S2595]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO RICHARD J. DURBIN

  Mr. SCHATZ. Madam President, everyone enters public service hoping 
that they can make a difference, but few have the ability or the 
fortune to do as much good as Senator Dick Durbin has over his long and 
storied career.
  Since stepping into these Halls of Congress more than 40 year ago, 
Senator Durbin has fought passionately for his constituents back home 
in his beloved Illinois and Americans all across the country. And while 
so many of us have already benefited from his extraordinary work, both 
knowingly and unknowingly, his legacy will continue to improve the 
lives of Americans for many years to come.

  To know Senator Durbin is to understand he is as decent and as 
principled as leaders come. He is dogged in his fight for fairness and 
justice but humble in sharing the credit for all of his successes. He 
is willing to work with everyone but will never compromise his values 
for anyone.
  Over the years, he has picked some very difficult but worthy fights. 
And he has won time after time, paving the way for cleaner air on 
airplane flights, leading the fight against torture, lifting up the 
voices that are too often left behind in Washington.
  A trial attorney by training, Senator Durbin can never look away from 
injustice, no matter how pervasive or how entrenched. No challenge was 
too daunting. He felt an obligation to try to fix it. Outraged by the 
conduct of the war on drugs that had imprisoned generations of Black 
and Brown men without a meaningful path to rehabilitation, he worked 
for years to pass the Fair Sentencing Act and the First Step Act. Those 
laws have since helped to reduce overcrowding in prisons, lower 
criminal recidivism, and revitalize communities across the country.
  Shocked by the plight of Dreamers who spent their lives calling 
America home but without the papers to prove it, Senator Durbin has 
been on the frontlines of the push to put them on a path to 
citizenship. It is a fight that still continues and one that I know 
Senator Durbin will keep at for as long as it takes.
  Anyone who has served in this body long enough knows that there are 
those votes that test your resolve and weigh heavily on your 
conscience. And for so long, Senator Durbin has been a uniquely 
consistent voice of moral clarity and conscience, not just when it is 
easy or when it is obvious but especially when it is hard and even when 
it is lonely.
  In 2002, he was among a small group of Senators who voted against the 
invasion of Iraq, cautioning against the dangers of acting hastily on 
fear rather than fact. Years later, in the throes of the war on terror, 
Senator Durbin became an outspoken critic of the U.S. Government's use 
of torture in foreign prisons. In both instances, he was criticized and 
condemned at the time. In both instances, history has rendered his 
judgment as the right and patriotic one.
  It has been one of the true privileges of my career to serve as his 
chief deputy whip and to watch him work his magic during floor debates 
and in the Judiciary Committee. He is a gentleman of the Senate through 
and through. I will never forget the time he took to talk about my 
dad's legacy on this very floor. I know that he has shown that kind of 
thoughtfulness and care to so many, even when facing his own loss.
  I am lucky to call him a mentor and friend, someone who I have 
learned as much from and rely on for counsel and perspective over many 
years.
  The good news for the country, for me, and for all of us colleagues 
is Senator Durbin's work here in the Senate is far from over. We are 
lucky to be able to count on his leadership and example, as always, in 
the 2 years ahead. But for now, I want to thank Senator Durbin, his 
family--especially his wife Loretta--and his excellent staff for their 
decades of extraordinary service

[[Page S2595]]

to the State and to the Nation. We are all better for him.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DAINES. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi.

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