Richard Durbin

Senator Dick Durbin

Richard J. (Dick) Durbin is a liberal Democratic U.S. Senator from Illinois. Senator Durbin was born on November 21, 1944 in East St. Louis, Illinois. Senator Durbin is the current Assistant Majority Leader for the U.S. Senate.

Education and Career

Durbin graduated from Georgetown University with a B.S. in 1966 and a J.D. in 1969. Durbin was an attorney. He was elected to the U.S. Senate on November 5, 1996 and re-elected in 2002. In 2004, Durbin was elected as Minority Whip. In December 2006 Senator Durbin was elected by his fellow Democratic senators to the post of Assistant Majority Leader, also known as Majority Whip.

Family

Senator Durbin is married to Loretta Schaefer Durbin. They have three children and one grandchild.

Controversy

Senator Durbin made a statement In 2005 morally equating U.S. treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, (zero killed, a few died of suicide) with prisoner treatment by Pol Pot (200,000 killed, 1,500,000 died). He later apologized for his comments.

"If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime — Pol Pot or others — that had no concern for human beings."

Sources

• Richard J. Durbin Biography]

External Links

• Official U.S. Senate Website
• What Liberals Say - Dick Durbin, Accuracy In Media