Sen. Richard Durbin

Analysis

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Durbin is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the Senate positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).

The chart is based on the bills Durbin has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Jan 20, 2022. See full analysis methodology.

Committee Membership

Richard Durbin sits on the following committees:

• Senate Committee on the Judiciary Chair
• Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
  Commodities, Risk Management, and Trade, Livestock, Dairy, Poultry, Local Food Systems, and Food Safety and Security, Rural Development and Energy subcommittees
• Senate Committee on Appropriations
  Defense, Energy and Water Development, Financial Services and General Government, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies, State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies subcommittees

Enacted Legislation

Durbin was the primary sponsor of 38 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

• S. 611: VOCA Fix to Sustain the Crime Victims Fund Act of 2021
• S. 473: COVID–19 Bankruptcy Relief Extension Act of 2021
• S. 3478 (116th): Commission on America’s Medical Security Act
• S. 2535 (115th): Opioid Quota Reform Act
• S. 2830 (115th): SIREN Act of 2018
• S. 3345 (114th): A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1101 Davis Street in Evanston, Illinois, as the “Abner J. Mikva Post Office …
• S. 2891 (114th): A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 525 North Broadway in Aurora, Illinois, as the “Kenneth M. Christy Post Office …

View All »

Does 38 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.

We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110^th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Durbin sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Health (22%) Crime and Law Enforcement (20%) Education (15%) International Affairs (11%) Taxation (9%) Labor and Employment (8%) Armed Forces and National Security (8%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (7%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Durbin recently introduced the following legislation:

• S. 3437: COVID-19 Bankruptcy Relief Extension Consolidation Act of 2021
• S.Res. 480: A resolution to support an independent and democratic Ukraine against any further Russian …
• S. 3313: A bill to amend the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008 to extend …
• S. 3271: Criminal Judicial Administration Act of 2021
• S. 3251: Court Legal Access and Student Support Act of 2021
• S.Res. 456: A resolution expressing support for a free, fair, and peaceful December 4, 2021, …
• S. 3141: New Philadelphia National Historical Park Act

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

As Senate Majority Whip, Durbin may be focused on his responsibilities other than introducing legislation, such as setting the chamber’s agenda, uniting his party, and brokering deals.

Voting Record

Key Votes

Missed Votes

From Jan 1997 to Jan 2022, Durbin missed 90 of 8,092 roll call votes, which is 1.1%. This is better than the median of 2.1% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses and major life events.

Show the numbers...

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:

• unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
• The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
• United States Congressional Roll Call Voting Records, 1789-1990 by Howard L. Rosenthal and Keith T. Poole.
• Martis’s “The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress”, via Keith Poole’s roll call votes data set, for political party affiliation for Members of Congress from 1789 through about year 2000
• GPO Member Guide for the photo
• GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills