U.S. Senator Dick Durbin acknowledged Friday that his vote, along with a small number of Democrats, to back a Republican-led measure ending the nation’s longest government shutdown last week could exacerbate divisions between party progressives and moderates.
But the chamber’s No. 2 Democrat and Illinois’ retiring senior senator also said the agreement includes an expectation that Senate GOP leader John Thune will bring a Democratic plan to extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies to a vote by mid-December. Durbin said this upcoming debate will provide a highly visible forum highlighting the two parties’ contrasting health care agendas.
Speaking at a news conference at Care for Real, an Edgewater food pantry that saw a sharp increase in need partly caused by the Trump administration using the shutdown to block funding for the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program (SNAP), Durbin said, “We can have our political debates in Washington, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of families receiving paychecks and feeding their children.”
“When you’re going to use a political strategy, you’ve got to carefully measure the impact it’s going to have on innocent people,” he added.
Durbin, along with seven other senators who voted with Republicans on the agreement to end the shutdown, as well as six House members, have received scathing criticism from elements within the Democratic Party. Critics argue that the shutdown-ending vote cost them momentum in challenging President Donald Trump and GOP allies on the health insurance subsidy issue, as demonstrated in balloting earlier this month across the country.
Governor J.B. Pritzker, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender, has been among party leaders critical of the vote and its lack of a firm commitment to extend ACA subsidies. On Friday, the Young Democrats of Illinois released a statement asserting that votes for the agreement “undermined party unity and weakened our leverage at a time when working families, especially in Illinois, can’t afford increased costs to their health care.”
Asked by a reporter if his vote would deepen the schism between younger progressives and older Democrats, Durbin responded, “It can, but I hope it doesn’t. I hope that we can close ranks now even though we have that fundamental disagreement and work toward a common goal.”
“The American people want a party elected that’s sensitive to the reality of life in American families today, and that sensitivity relates directly to affordability and when people can have the basics,” he said. “We’re still dedicated as a party. Through the course of the shutdown, we have defined ACA health insurance subsidies as a major issue. It was very helpful in the last election we had a couple of weeks ago. I think it will be in the future.”
Durbin, a five-term senator known for his dedication to the chamber’s institutional rules, expressed belief that Thune would bring the Democrats’ ACA plan to the Senate floor. “So we’ll see, for those who are skeptical, in a few weeks whether he keeps his word. I think he will.”
He also said he was trying to “round up Republican support” to extend the subsidies.
Durbin noted there was never a guarantee that a subsidy extension would pass the Republican-led Senate or the GOP-run House. “But to have an opportunity to debate this before the American people and let them see the stark differences between the parties — that’s what a democracy does,” he said.
Amid increasing calls, primarily from House Democrats in Washington, for Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to step down in the wake of the shutdown-ending vote, Durbin gave his colleague a vote of confidence — even though he and Schumer were on opposite sides of the roll call.
“Chuck does an excellent job, and I believe he’s in a solid position with the caucus,” Durbin said. “Does he have every vote every day? No, hardly anyone would. But I think he’s led us well.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/14/dick-durbin-shutdown-vote-highlight-health-care/