This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Nov. 16, 2010 - WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democrats on Tuesday re-elected Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. -- a savvy and influential Illinois legislator and a key ally of the White House -- to the Senate's second-highest leadership post.
The Democratic Caucus' selection of Durbin as assistant majority leader (also called the majority whip) -- along with the re-election of Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., as majority leader, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., as vice chair of the Democratic Conference -- sets the leadership structure of the new Congress, in which Democrats no longer will have the strong majority that they hold now.
Durbin, 65, of Springfield, Ill., has come a long way since the days when he worked as a meatpacker while a student at Assumption High School in East St. Louis. First elected to represent Illinois' 29th congressional district in 1982, he won the Senate seat vacated by the late Sen. Paul Simon in 1996. Durbin was selected by Senate Democrats as minority whip in 2004 and has served as the deputy majority leader since 2006.
Durbin, a feisty debater, will continue to focus on the day-to-day action on the Senate floor, responsible for monitoring legislation and counting votes. Schumer -- with whom Durbin shares a house in D.C. and who likely would have been his chief opponent for majority leader if Reid had lost his re-election race -- will lead the Democratic "war room" rapid response effort as part of a new caucus committee that merges policy and communications.
Speaking after the caucus vote Tuesday morning, Durbin told journalists that he is still waiting for evidence of flexibility from Republican lawmakers on the key issue of the current lame-duck session of Congress: whether to extend all or part of the Bush-era tax cuts.
The Illinois senator said he would "prefer to see" the tax cut issue resolved this year -- while Democrats still hold a majority in both the House and Senate. But he downplayed chances for a bipartisan agreement on the tax issue when President Barack Obama meets Thursday with congressional Republican and Democratic leaders. For his part, Reid told reporters that Democrats will focus on "the middle class and creating jobs."
Durbin took a bipartisan tone in his official statement on his re-election, saying he "look[s] forward to working with members of both parties and the president to improve the quality of life for the middle class and for all Americans." He said most Americans "want a strong and prosperous America, but they want economic fairness as well."
Only four other Illinois senators have served as leaders for their parties in the Senate, the most recent one besides Durbin being the late Everett McKinley Dirksen, who held the position of Senate minority leader from 1959-69. With the Senate remaining under Democratic control but the House of Representatives shifting to Republican control in the new Congress that begins the first week of January, Durbin said that Congress will continue to be the most important forum to debate and act on major issues.
He added in his statement that he will continue to work for his home state in his Senate role: "Illinois will always be at the table for any discussion of legislation involving the leadership."