Dick Durbin

We have to talk about the way we finance campaigns.

When we engage in the critical decisions about our nation's future budgets, I want progressive voices at the table to argue that we must protect the most vulnerable in our society and demand fairness in budget cuts.

If the Department of Education is serious about fighting for students and protecting taxpayers, a full ban of mandatory arbitration clauses is a no-brainer.

I urge the Department of Education not to settle for half-measures when it comes to students.

I think we learned a lesson and paid a bitter price when we put troops on the ground on a long-term basis in Iraq and Afghanistan. Let us support a homegrown, indigenous, and locally inspired effort to bring stability to the region.

We need to provide support to those that are fighting ISIS. And we can provide that support: logistically, training, intelligence, air cover. There are many things we have already accomplished successfully. But the notion of sending in rotational troops, as we saw in Iraq in the past, and in Afghanistan, I think we have learned our lesson.

I've been out to Walter Reed on unannounced visits. I've seen these soldiers. I've met their families.

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 prefer Raisin Bran. But I like the Mini-Wheats.

Progressives should be willing to talk about ways to ensure the long-term viability of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, but those conversations should not be part of a plan to avert the fiscal cliff.

When you're talking about long-term deficit reduction, $4 trillion worth, entitlement reform needs to be part of it.

Any reports of animal cruelty should be thoroughly investigated and those operators held accountable.

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?'

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 don't want to see the government shut down.

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

DACA, to me personally, and the DREAM Act are very personal and mean an awful lot.

Our party feels that we need to have fair compensation, living wage, good benefits, and decent treatment of workers, and that we can do that and still be competitive on a global basis.

We borrow 40 cents out of every dollar that we spend. We borrow most of it from countries like China. They have become major creditors of the United States and have more power over our economy than we want them to. So dealing with this is not only the right thing economically, it's certainly right from a moral viewpoint.

More people working and paying taxes reduces government expenditures and helps us move a little closer to balance.

If we're going to have tax cuts, let's focus on those in lower and middle income groups. Make sure that they get the breaks they need to continue to try to provide for their families.

My wish is to bring the troops home as quickly as possible.

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

We believe that there are aspects of border security that Democrats and Republicans can agree on.

You would think that, at this point, with records being kept and the vast amount of knowledge on these drugs, the pharmacists could wave off prescriptions that are dangerous to customers.

When Senator McCain reaches across the aisle to find Democrats to support efforts to make America stronger, he finds plenty of us standing, willing to help him and many other Republican leaders.

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

I don't disagree with Senator McCain when he talks about the earmark process.

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.

The for-profit college industry is clearly the single-heaviest subsidized business in America. More than any defense contractor or any farm operation... So many of them are a horrible waste of students' time and of taxpayer dollars.

I certainly want to be the whip, and that's an election every two years in the Senate Democratic caucus.

I really believe in the people of this country.

It is a challenge to all of us, and it's a challenge we need to meet, to make sure the Quincy Veterans' Home is, in fact, giving the best care and the safest care in the state.

If we can get back to where I can earmark money to bring it home to Illinois... to make us a stronger economy, I'm going to continue to do it.

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.

Across the VA's system in our state, the wait times are entirely too long on average.

I've been impressed with Rick Guzman and his commitment to the residents of Aurora since I first met him many years ago.

I'm going to do what is best for the caucus.

Osama bin Laden is gone. The war in Iraq is over. Afghanistan is coming to a close.

I have always been critical and skeptical of fast-tracking. It is a take-it-or-leave-it approach to trade agreements which really deals members of Congress and their concerns out of the picture.

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

Town meetings are not bean bag. I've had hundreds of them, and sometimes folks get upset. And that's part of America, part of our process.

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

I enjoy my job, and I will help my state all I can.

I want to continue to serve as whip of the caucus.

I'm confident ITT will get what it deserves.

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.

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

It is tough to run for public office and face an opponent, to decide on issues what is the best thing, then face the criticism from colleagues, voters, the press and defend yourself.