Durbin Goes After Trump Budget in Springfield

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) made a stop at the Springfield Boys & Girls Club, saying it’s funding is under threat by President Trump’s budget proposal.

A leading Democrat in Congress, Durbin also took the opportunity to attack the Republican healthcare plan. He says given the opposition from medical providers, he doesn’t understand how a Congressman from Illinois could support it.

“How can you come home and face the administrators of our great hospitals, some community, some major hospitals, and say I just voted against you.”

Republicans couldn’t get the votes Friday, even though both the president and the speaker of the House put their full weight behind the plan. Durbin says in Washington, that usually means a slam dunk.

“When the president puts his reputation on the line, whoever that president may be, they’ve never lost. Underline the word never. Ultimately, I expect the Trump and Paul Ryan effort to succeed in the House. If it doesn’t, it’s historic.”

Whether the plan will be revisited by Republicans is an open question. Durbin says 1 million Illinoisans would have lost their insurance under the plan. Estimates from hospital groups are lower, but they say the plan would’ve forced healthcare layoffs and cost the state billions.