SPRINGFIELD — Saying that he could not justify “playing with other people's lives” as millions of Americans went without their paychecks and benefits, Sen. Dick Durbin on Thursday defended his vote to reopen the government earlier this week after a record-long federal government shutdown that stretched more than seven weeks.
“I think that is the crudest form of political weapon that I can imagine — and that's why I came to the conclusion that we had tried to find a bipartisan agreement, and we reached it,” Durbin said following an unrelated event in Springfield.
Durbin was one of eight members of the Senate Democratic caucus who joined Republicans in advancing the deal, providing the votes needed to break a filibuster. The measure passed Congress and was signed by President Donald Trump on Wednesday.
Democratic defectors touted the securing of a full year of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funding, the reversal of shutdown-related layoffs, and the promise of a vote on extending enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits.
Democrats refused for weeks to vote for government funding bills without an extension of the enhanced credits, which are currently set to expire at the end of the year. If they do, health insurance premiums are expected to skyrocket.
Durbin acknowledged that “it remains to be seen whether the Republicans will live up to” the agreement. But after a conversation on the Senate floor with Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, he expressed confidence that they would.
“I said, 'John, I'm sticking my head down for this agreement. I want you to keep your word,'” Durbin recalled. “And he said, 'I will.' I'm gonna hold him to it. I think he will.”
Durbin’s faith in his Republican colleagues has been harshly criticized by many Illinois Democrats, including Gov. JB Pritzker and the candidates vying to succeed him in the Senate.
Pritzker and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton — one of the Senate candidates — in separate statements called the assurance of a vote on ACA tax credits “an empty promise.”
Schumer ‘not happy’
Durbin is the No. 2 Senate Democrat, leading many to speculate that he wouldn’t have joined the effort without the blessing of the party’s leader, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, who voted against the measure but has nevertheless taken heat from the Democratic base for its passage.
Two of the Senate Democrats who voted for the measure, including Durbin, are retiring and the other six aren’t up for reelection until either 2028 or 2030, thus insulating them from backlash and perhaps freeing them to take a politically tough vote that some of their colleagues could not.
Still, it’s unusual for a member of leadership to break the party line. Durbin told reporters that his vote was not coordinated with or orchestrated by Schumer, a longtime friend who he shared a Washington D.C. apartment with for two decades.
“He was not happy with my decision,” Durbin said. “He was disappointed and told me as much, and he asked me to change my mind. I said, 'I'm not going to do that, I just wanted to give you the benefit of knowing what I'm thinking.' Yes, he opposed what I did and the others involved in it. But I did what I thought was right.”
Hemp ban tucked into bill
Also tucked into the legislation was a provision banning the sale of intoxicating hemp products — a move that could upend an industry with annual sales now into the billions.
Hemp was federally legalized under the 2018 Farm Bill, which defined it as a plant with less than 0.3% delta-9 THC. But the law didn’t account for total THC or other cannabinoids, creating a loophole that allowed companies to use compounds like delta-8 to make products with marijuana-like intoxicating effects. As a result, hemp-derived intoxicants have proliferated in gas stations, corner stores and other places with little to no regulation.
An amendment seeking to remove the language from the larger bill, proposed by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, was rejected in a 76-24 vote. Durbin and Sen. Tammy Duckworth voted with the majority.
Durbin said the hemp language was proposed by Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky.
“Throughout my career, I've tried my best to protect children,” Durbin said. “He asked for further regulation of the industry to make sure their products being sold at service stations and such weren't dangerous to kids. That's not too much to ask. I supported his position.”
Though he opposed the bill on the whole, the hemp provision hands Pritzker an indirect political win. Illinois’ governor earlier this year pushed in vain for legislation that would have limited the sale of delta-8 and other hemp-derived intoxicants to state-licensed cannabis dispensaries. But House Speaker Chris Welch, D-Hillside, did not call it for a vote, claiming it did not have the support of 60 House Democrats.
Read more: Intoxicating hemp remains unregulated in Illinois following legislative inaction
“In the absence of action in Springfield, Governor Pritzker supports policies to protect people, including children, from being misinformed or harmed by these products,” a Pritzker spokesperson said.
Pritzker further told reporters after an unrelated event in Chicago on Thursday that “we’re going to have to look at how we might regulate” hemp “now that we see that the federal government is limiting it.”
“The goal here is to keep our children safe,” Pritzker said. “That really is my number one goal about regulating intoxicating hemp — and when it’s available everywhere, and it’s got names like Skittlez with a ‘Z’ on the end, and it looks the same as Skittles the candy, it’s just not right.”
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
This article first appeared on Capitol News Illinois and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
