WASHINGTON—A bill to honor a prominent Cuban anti-communist has bipartisan congressional support.
Cory Booker isn&#8217;t having it.
The New Jersey Democrat blocked a bill that would rename the street outside the Cuban Embassy after the late anti-communist Cuban activist Oswaldo Payá. Payá, who founded the Christian Liberation Movement in the 1980s, died in a 2021 car crash, that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights determined to be an intentional act by the Cuban government against Payá, according to the New York Times.
The bill to name the street “Oswaldo Payá Way” in his honor has been introduced multiple times, most recently by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL). Cruz described the late activist as a “Cuban dissident who fought against the communist regime and who stood up and fought for free speech for democracy and for human rights. He was a thorn in the side of the Cuban communist regime his entire life.”
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Booker called Payá an “extraordinary hero&#8221; who should be honored, but said it should be up to the Washington, D.C. City Council to rename the street.
“His work should be recognized more by our nation, and I would support the D.C. Council, their elected representatives, if it decided through their democratic process to work with the senator and the Democratic sponsor to rename the street,” Booker said on the Senate floor on Wednesday.
“My objection is simply right now about Washington, D.C.’s, right to control their own local affairs. This objection is about home rule and self-governance. Now it is true, as my colleague said, that this has passed through this chamber multiple times,” the Democrat continued.
Cruz, whose family fled Cuba&#8217;s communist regime, rebutted Booker’s argument. The Texas Republican said Booker&#8217;s opposition is simply about opposing President Donald Trump, who faced Democratic pushback for the federal law enforcement surge in the nation’s capital.
“The purpose here is to put pressure on the Cuban Communist regime, and naming the street does that. Now, Mr. President, as I pointed out, Sen. Booker voted for this identical legislation just two years ago, this bipartisan legislation that leads to the obvious question, what has changed?” Cruz said on the floor.
“And one thing has changed. The resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, when Senator Booker voted for this bipartisan legislation, Joe Biden was the president. Today, Donald J. Trump is the president, and unfortunately, our Democrat colleagues have decided bipartisan cooperation is no longer something they&#8217;re interested in. Their party is instead unified behind one principle, which is that they hate Donald J. Trump,” the Republican continued.
Booker, who recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/spartacus-cory-booker-breaks-record-for-longest-senate-floor-speech" target="_blank" rel="noopener">broke the record</a> for the longest-ever Senate floor speech, has a history of grand political gestures.

Meet the Press – Season 74

Booker Blocks Bipartisan Bill Honoring Anti-Communist Hero

Communism

Cory Booker

Cuba

Dick Durbin

Senate

Ted Cruz

Attorney General Pam Bondi tore into Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) during a Tuesday morning hearing, squaring off with the Illinois lawmaker over President Donald Trump&#8217;s plan to send National Guard troops into the city of Chicago to protect federal employees and property.
Durbin raised the question, noting that members of the Texas National Guard had been tapped to deploy to Chicago, and suggested that it wasn&#8217;t necessary despite dangerous clashes between protesters and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
&#8220;The word is, and I think it&#8217;s been confirmed by the White House, they&#8217;re going to transfer Texas National Guard units to the state of Illinois,&#8221; Durbin prompted. &#8220;What&#8217;s the rationale for that?&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/AGPamBondi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AGPamBondi</a> TORCHES <a href="https://twitter.com/SenatorDurbin?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenatorDurbin</a>:
&#8220;I wish you loved Chicago as much as you hate President Trump&#8230;The National Guard are on the way to Chicago. If you&#8217;re not going to protect your citizens, President Trump will.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/zHIvLYkWmm">pic.twitter.com/zHIvLYkWmm</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1975565569417224394?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;Chairman, as you shut down the government, you voted to shut down the government and you&#8217;re sitting here, our law enforcement officers aren&#8217;t being paid, they&#8217;re out there working to protect you,&#8221; Bondi replied. &#8220;I wish you loved Chicago as much as you hate President Trump.&#8221;
&#8220;Currently the National Guard are on the way to Chicago. If you&#8217;re not going to protect your citizens, President Trump will,&#8221; she added.
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Bondi went on to explain why additional resources were necessary, particularly in Chicago, saying, &#8220;Your city has a murder rate five times higher than New York&#8217;s — 571 homicides last year. If you were serious about protecting your people, you would be asking this administration for help.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
&#8220;Your city has a murder rate five times higher than New. York&#8217;s — 571 homicides last year,&#8221; says <a href="https://twitter.com/AGPamBondi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AGPamBondi</a> to the insufferable <a href="https://twitter.com/SenatorDurbin?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenatorDurbin</a> on the National Guard in Chicago.
&#8220;We&#8217;re there to help make America safe and Illinois safe — whether or not you want to.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/qgbZIryITP">pic.twitter.com/qgbZIryITP</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1975568173291515944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;You&#8217;re saying that we&#8217;re coming into your state and your city?&#8221; Bondi pushed back, noting the static the Trump administration was getting from both Governor JB Pritzker (D-IL) and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. &#8220;We&#8217;re there to help make America safe and Illinois safe — whether or not you want to.&#8221;

Bondi Torches Dick Durbin Over Dem Failure To Stop Crime In Chicago

Chicago

Media

National Guard

Pam Bondi

Politics

”Raising Hope for Climate Justice” Conference Opens

The Pope Hosts Cringe ‘Climate Justice’ Event

The Pope Hosts Cringe 'Climate Justice' Event

Abortion

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Catholic

Climate Change

Environmentalism

Opinion

Pope Leo

Pro-Life Movement

The Vatican

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) was apparently baffled by the fact that Washington, D.C., Police Union boss Gregg Pemberton was less concerned with the January 6th pardons than the 1,537 police officers who’ve been assaulted since that day without justice being served on their behalf.
Pemberton and Durbin went back and forth several times on Tuesday, and the Illinois senator struggled to wrap his brain around the fact that Pemberton was unbothered by President Donald Trump’s blanket pardons for January 6 rioters.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨NEW: DC Police Union Boss Gregg Pemberton expresses &#8220;FRUSTRATION&#8221; as Dem Senator Dick Durbin *SOLELY* focuses on J6 officer assaults🚨
PEMBERTON: &#8220;More than 1,500 officers have been assaulted by people since that day — and nothing has happened to those suspects!&#8221;
&#8220;My… <a href="https://t.co/x7mtWS5vzW">pic.twitter.com/x7mtWS5vzW</a>
— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) <a href="https://twitter.com/JasonJournoDC/status/1973038000222134646?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Durbin asked about the pardons right away, demanding to know how Pemberton had felt upon learning that Trump had pardoned those who’d been arrested and convicted for taking part in the January 6th riot on Capitol Hill.
Pemberton conceded that it was frustrating, but then said it was more frustrating to him that in the months since January 6, 2021, some 1,537 police officers had been assaulted — and after the suspects were arrested, the cases were “no-papered” by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, meaning that they could not proceed.
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Durbin once again asked about the pardons, and Pemberton pointed out the fact that those cases had already been adjudicated and that the defendants in question had already been charged and convicted — and some had served jail time — before those pardons were issued. The cases he was talking about never even made it before a judge — and the assaulted officers could never see justice — because the U.S. Attorney’s Office had stopped them cold.
Durbin raised the question of the pardons yet again, but Pemberton continued to push back.
“More than 1,500 officers have been assaulted by people since that day — and nothing has happened to those suspects!&#8221; he said.
&#8220;My frustration, Senator, is that no one seems to care about police officers who were assaulted after that day or before that day,” Pemberton continued. “It seems like people only care about police officers who were assaulted on that day in the calendar!”

Senate Judiciary Holds Hearing On Domestic Terrorism

Dick Durbin Baffled As Police Union Boss Cares More About 1,500 Assaulted Officers Than January 6 Pardons

Assault

January 6

Police

In a decisive victory for President Donald Trump, the GOP-led Senate confirmed on Monday the first judicial nominee of his second term.
Whitney Hermandorfer, of Tennessee, prevailed in her bid to become a U.S. Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit by a 46-42 <a href="https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1191/vote_119_1_00384.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vote</a> along party lines. She is poised to replace Judge Jane Branstetter Stranch, an <a href="https://www.congress.gov/nomination/119th-congress/150/3#:~:text=Description-,Whitney%20D.,vice%20Jane%20Branstetter%20Stranch%2C%20retiring." target="_blank" rel="noopener">Obama pick</a>. A dozen members of the upper chamber did not vote.
The confirmation of Hermandorfer to join the Cincinnati-based bench that hears appeals from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee is &#8220;a boon to the federal judiciary,&#8221; Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said in a statement.
&#8220;As the Director of the Strategic Litigation Unit in Tennessee, she’s led major cases on civil rights and the separation of powers and is widely praised for her legal mind, impeccable qualifications, collegial nature and constitutionalist philosophy,&#8221; Grassley added. &#8220;I was proud to lead Ms. Hermandorfer’s nomination through the Senate Judiciary Committee and am confident she will be an excellent federal judge.&#8221;
When Trump nominated Hermandorfer earlier this year, the White House <a href="https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/white-house-press-release-president-donald-j-trump-announces-judicial-candidate-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that she was the director of the Strategic Litigation Unit in the Office of the Tennessee Attorney General, had previously served as an associate at Williams &amp; Connolly, LLP in Washington, D.C., and boasted experience working as a law clerk to Justices Samuel Alito and Amy Coney Barrett of the Supreme Court, now-Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh when he was a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and Judge Richard J. Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The White House also noted that Hermandorfer earned her B.A., magna cum laude, from Princeton University, where she was co-captain of the women’s varsity basketball team, earned her J.D. from the George Washington University Law School, where she graduated summa cum laude and first in her class, and was editor-in-chief of the George Washington University Law Review.
&#8220;I am pleased to announce the nomination of Whitney Hermandorfer to serve as a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@Hua341/posts/114455316115570433" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a post on Truth Social in May. &#8220;Whitney has been serving the Great People of Tennessee, in the Attorney General’s Office, where she has strongly litigated in Court to protect Citizens from Federal Government Overreach. A former Co-Captain of the Princeton University Women’s Basketball Team, Whitney is a staunch defender of Girls’ and Women’s Sports. She has a long history of working for Judges and Justices who respect the RULE OF LAW, and protect our Constitution, including Justice Samuel Alito and two fine Supreme Court Justices I appointed in my First Term. Whitney is a Fighter who will inspire confidence in our Legal System. Thank you Whitney!&#8221;
Democrats warned that Hermandorfer was too green and might give into politics.
&#8220;Senate Republicans just confirmed their first judicial nominee of Trump 2.0,&#8221; Senate Judiciary ranking member Dick Durbin (D-IL) <a href="https://x.com/SenatorDurbin/status/1944882255635026248" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on X. &#8220;Whitney Hermandorfer is inexperienced and partisan – with a record that repeatedly put Donald Trump ahead of the law. This is the playbook we must watch for, call out, and vote down.&#8221;
When Hermandorfer testified during her confirmation hearing last month, she contended that judges should adhere to boundaries established under the Constitution. That came as Republicans had been pushing for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/impeachathon-ensnares-growing-number-of-get-trump-judges" target="_blank" rel="noopener">impeachment</a> of some members of the federal judiciary who were ruling against some of Trump&#8217;s actions in a way they believed had waded into activism.
&#8220;It is an extraordinary power, the Article III power, to decide cases &#8230; With that power, again, comes great responsibility and humility to understand the proper role of a judge is to interpret the law and not make the law or bend the law to whatever policy preferences the judge might have individually,&#8221; Hermandorfer <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1930290647715455172" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
Hermandorfer later advanced out of the Judiciary Committee by a 12-10 <a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/press/rep/releases/judiciary-committee-advances-judicial-nominations-for-sixth-circuit-and-missouri-district-courts-us-attorney-nominations-for-idaho-and-pennsylvania" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vote</a>. Other Trump nominees for judgeships were also reported favorably to the full Senate and could be confirmed in the days and weeks to come. If Trump&#8217;s second term is like his first, he still has more than a <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/01/13/how-trump-compares-with-other-recent-presidents-in-appointing-federal-judges/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">couple hundred</a> judicial appointments to go.
&#8220;Tennessee native — Judge Whitney Hermandorfer — is the first judicial nominee confirmed by the Senate in [Trump&#8217;s] second term,&#8221; Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) <a href="https://x.com/SenatorHagerty/status/1944889075892093034" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a post on X after the final vote on Monday. &#8220;She will set a benchmark of excellence for future judicial nominees — President Trump could not have made a better choice. Congratulations, Judge Hermandorfer!&#8221;
Grassley&#8217;s team <a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/press/rep/releases/senate-builds-on-record-setting-confirmation-pace-with-first-judicial-confirmation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that during the first six months of Trumps&#8217; second term, the Senate has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-gop-breaks-through-dem-obstruction-on-trump-2-0-civilian-nominees" target="_blank" rel="noopener">confirmed</a> 21 members of Trump&#8217;s Cabinet, &#8220;putting his team in place faster than the last three incoming administrations.&#8221; It also pointed out that the upper chamber has so far confirmed 89 of his civilian nominees, &#8220;outpacing the first Trump administration,&#8221; and confirmed 12 ambassador nominees, &#8220;which is more than the incoming Biden, first Trump and George W. Bush administrations.&#8221;

Whitney Hermandorfer

‘A Benchmark Of Excellence’: Senate Confirms First Judge Of Trump’s Second Term

Bill Hagerty

Chuck Grassley

Congress

Courts

Donald Trump

Presidential nomination

Tennessee

U.S. Senate

Senate Democrats spurned a <a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/committee-activity/hearings/unfit-to-serve-how-the-biden-cover-up-endangered-america-and-undermined-the-constitution" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hearing</a> on Wednesday on the &#8220;cover-up&#8221; of President Joe Biden&#8217;s mental state when he was in the White House, a boycott which Republicans took to be a confession of guilt.
All but two Judiciary Committee Democrats skipped the event, which featured testimony from former Trump White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and others. Ranking member Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) each departed after they got a chance to speak, casting the proceedings as being a waste of time, according to <a href="https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/06/18/congress/dems-boycott-hearing-probing-bidens-fitness-00412461" target="_blank" rel="noopener">POLITICO</a>.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) took a swipe at the Democrats after Durbin left the room.
&#8220;I will note that few of my Democratic colleagues are here today — thank you to Sen. Welch from Vermont for being here — leaving us with no other option than to take the boycotting of this hearing as an admission of guilt for their role in this crisis,&#8221; Cornyn said.
Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) made a similar observation.
&#8220;Given [Biden&#8217;s] mental incapacity, the American people deserve to know who was running the country for the last four years,&#8221; Schmitt declared. &#8220;Today, as we seek to answer this question, it is deeply disappointing but not surprising that most Democrats on this committee have chosen to all but boycott the hearing and have failed to call a single witness.&#8221;
He added: &#8220;They have chosen to ignore this issue like they ignored President Biden&#8217;s decline. Their absence speaks volumes — an implicit admission that the truth is too inconvenient to face. By refusing to engage in this critical examination, they abdicate their responsibility to the American people. This de facto boycott is not just a refusal to participate; it&#8217;s a refusal to serve the American people, who deserve answers about who was truly leading their government.&#8221;
There were others who did the same.
&#8220;Not a single Democrat is here today because not a single one of them gives a damn about the fact that they lied to the American people for four years,&#8221; Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) <a href="https://x.com/cspan/status/1935380979419349284" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;They knew, every one of them knew, that Joe Biden was mentally not competent to do the job.&#8221;
Spicer, who now hosts his own show, also <a href="https://x.com/seanspicershow/status/1935375576614785329" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called out</a> the Democrats for being absent.
Durbin used his time during the hearing to show clips of President Donald Trump&#8217;s remarks over the years to suggest that his cognitive ability was in doubt. The video included comments about Haitian migrants eating pets, having &#8220;concepts of a plan,&#8221; and more.
&#8220;Senate Judiciary Republicans are holding a sham hearing now,&#8221; the Democrats on the panel claimed in a <a href="https://x.com/JudiciaryDems/status/1935344992282886363" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post</a> on X that had the supercut of Trump. &#8220;If you want to talk about a President’s state of mind, consider this mess. We’re focused on the critical challenges facing our nation. Back to business.&#8221;
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Senate hearing on who was really running Biden&#039;s White House" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1C6ZWPBJitQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Former US President Joe Biden

Dems Duck Hearing On Biden’s Mental Fitness: ‘Admission Of Guilt’

Eric Schmitt

Joe Biden

John Cornyn

Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) immediately regretted his decision to demand an example from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of a medical research project that he believed the Defense Department was justified in terminating.
Hegseth appeared on Wednesday before the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Durbin used some of his time in an attempt to attack Hegseth by claiming that, under his leadership, the Defense Department was cutting funding to vital medical research efforts.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
SEN. DURBIN: &#8220;Give me an example of a &#8216;boondoggle&#8217; in medical research &amp; defense health.&#8221;
SEC. HEGSETH: &#8220;We&#8217;re talking about some stuff I shouldn&#8217;t say in public. You know, marbles in the rear ends of cats, tens of millions of dollars.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/0qOkozf9p7">pic.twitter.com/0qOkozf9p7</a>
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) <a href="https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1932867157135696174?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Durbin began by touting his own actions, saying that during his tenure on that committee they had &#8220;dramatically increased the medical research to protect the men and women in uniform &#8230; It is enough for me that they risk their lives for our country. We shouldn&#8217;t make it a more dangerous situation, and we ought to understand what&#8217;s going on in their minds and their bodies when they serve.&#8221;
He then turned to Hegseth, complaining that millions of dollars in research projects had been canceled since he became Defense Secretary: &#8220;Your budget cuts two thirds — two thirds of that amount for defense health research. How can that be consistent with our mutual goal of making the military life a safer life for our men and women in uniform?&#8221;
&#8220;Senator, I would take issue with your characterization that all two-thirds of that — whatever was reduced — is focussed on the issues that you just spoke about,&#8221; Hegseth replied, saying that if the funding had been used for research that improved service members&#8217; lives, he would support it.
&#8220;My team knows that&#8217;s exactly the type of research that we would fund,&#8221; Hegseth continued. &#8220;But we did find lots of other research inside the Defense Department to the tens of millions and in some cases hundreds of millions of dollars that was a boondoggle for the American people.&#8221;
&#8220;Give me an example of a &#8216;boondoggle&#8217; in medical research and defense health,&#8221; Durbin interrupted.
&#8220;We&#8217;re talking about — some stuff I shouldn&#8217;t say in public. You know, marbles in the rear ends of cats, tens of millions of dollars. Things that don&#8217;t have —&#8221; Hegseth obliged.
Durbin, clearly wishing he could withdraw the question, attempted to deflect: &#8220;Is this like the 300 — 300 — is this like the 350-year-old Social Security check that the president told us about?&#8221;
&#8220;Senator, I respect completely the issue that you&#8217;re speaking with &#8230; the Defense Department has been a place where organizations, entities, and companies know they can get money almost unchecked whether or not it actually applies to things that happen on the battlefield. That&#8217;s what we worked very hard to find in ways that other secretaries have not. This committee and others talk about waste, fraud, and abuse all the time. We have actually gone after waste, fraud, and abuse. Because every dollar that was spent is another dollar we can pour into the war-fighters.&#8221;
Durbin tried one last time, saying that cutting two-thirds of the spending — would not &#8220;Make America Great Again&#8221; for the families of service members: &#8220;I don&#8217;t think so.&#8221; He did not address Hegseth&#8217;s point regarding the fact that much of the spending had been found to be &#8220;waste, fraud, and abuse&#8221; — and instead, he changed the subject to complain about the military parade scheduled for Flag Day.

Senator Dick Durbin

Top Democrat Demands Example Of Research The Defense Department Should Axe, Regrets It Immediately

Department of Defense

Military

Pete Hegseth

research

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), who rose up the ranks to become the second-ranked Democrat in the Senate during his more than four decades in Congress, announced on Wednesday that he will not seek re-election in 2026.
His move sets the stage for a potentially fierce primary fight among Democrats in a deep-blue state.
&#8220;The decision of whether to run for re-election has not been easy,&#8221; Durbin said in a video. &#8220;I truly love the job of being a United States Senator. But in my heart, I know it’s time to pass the torch. So, I am announcing today that I will not be seeking re-election at the end of my term.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I have given more than half of my life to House and Senate Congressional service, and I’ve always tried to stand up to power on behalf of the people of Illinois and our country.
I am proud of what I have achieved and hope my record will speak for itself. <a href="https://t.co/oiY49IQCUF">pic.twitter.com/oiY49IQCUF</a>
&mdash; Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenatorDurbin/status/1915076692030169535?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Illinois voters elected Durbin to the House in 1982 and the Senate in 1996. Durbin served as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and helped to confirm 235 judges, including Supreme Court Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. He became the second-ranking Democrat whip in 2005.
Durbin, 80, is the fourth Democrat in the upper chamber to rule out a re-election campaign in 2026. The others are Sens. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/michigan-dem-senator-gary-peters-wont-run-for-re-election" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gary Peters</a> (D-MI), <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/democratic-sen-jeanne-shaheen-wont-run-in-2026-opening-up-key-seat" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jeanne Shaheen</a> (D-NH), and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/another-dem-senator-announces-she-wont-run-for-re-election-in-2026" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tina Smith</a> (D-MN).
A number of Democrats are expected to announce campaigns for Durbin&#8217;s seat, including Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL), and Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL).
The GOP could also compete, but it will likely be a tough race for any Republican who decides to run. When Durbin secured his fifth term in 2020, he <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/11/03/us/elections/results-illinois-senate.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defeated</a> Republican candidate Mark Curran by more than 15 percentage points.
Currently, Republicans have a 53-seat <a href="https://www.senate.gov/history/partydiv.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">majority</a> in the Senate. There are also 45 Democrats and two independents who caucus with them.
Durbin&#8217;s office said he is the longest-serving whip for either party. His impending retirement also paves the way to a future contest for the role, which is used to <a href="https://www.senate.gov/about/parties-leadership/party-whips.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rally</a> members and secure votes.
Durbin’s career has not been without controversy, as reported by The Daily Wire.
One story covered how Durbin <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dick-durbin-apologizes-to-tim-scott-after-calling-his-police-reform-bill-token" target="_blank" rel="noopener">apologized</a> to Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), the sole black Republican in the Senate, for referring to his police reform legislation as a &#8220;token&#8221; solution. Another focused on Durbin <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dick-durbin-attacks-gop-governors-over-transporting-migrants-to-democrat-cities-broken-every-basic-standard-of-decency" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accusing</a> Republican governors of violating “every basic standard of decency” by transporting migrants to sanctuary cities.
Mike Davis, who helped oversee the vetting of judicial appointments as a GOP Senate staffer and now runs the conservative Article III Project, was among those who responded to Durbin&#8217;s announcement.
&#8220;Dick Durbin is, by far, the smartest and most effective Democrat senator,&#8221; Davis <a href="https://x.com/mrddmia/status/1915073436784759273" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on X. &#8220;He is a political savage, who comes across as Midwest reasonable. Big loss for Senate Democrats, with unhinged partisan Sheldon Whitehouse taking over Senate Judiciary Democrats.&#8221;
Former President Barack Obama, who served as a U.S. senator from Illinois alongside Durbin before winning the White House, lauded his former colleague.
&#8220;As an Illinois voter, I couldn’t be prouder that our senator for the last 28 years has been one of the finest in the country. Dick Durbin has always fought the good fight on behalf of working families, and his integrity shines through in everything he does,&#8221; Obama <a href="https://x.com/BarackObama/status/1915080417876517007">said</a> on X.
&#8220;It’s also true that I would not have been a United States Senator – and certainly would not have been President – had it not been for Dick’s support,&#8221; Obama added. &#8220;He has been a great and loyal friend, and Michelle and I wish him and Loretta all the best in their next chapter.&#8221;

No. 2 Senate Democrat Dick Durbin To Retire

Democrats

Election

Illinois

One of the things you&#8217;re generally not supposed to do when you&#8217;re in the commentary business is draw any sweeping conclusions about public sentiment based on reading YouTube comments. You can’t usually review YouTube comments and determine how people generally feel about something. But there&#8217;s been a trend across various YouTube comments sections lately that, at this point, I simply can&#8217;t ignore. 
If you pull up news reports about Republicans&#8217; efforts to ban men from competing in women&#8217;s sports, you will find — in every single instance, without exception — that the comments overwhelmingly support the Republicans. Even if you go to the channels of Left-wing news stations, the pattern remains the same. And not just on YouTube. Read the comments under any article on the topic. Read the comments on X or Facebook or Instagram. There is, everywhere, on every major platform, wide agreement on this issue. There just isn&#8217;t any debate among reasonable people about this issue. Everyone is tired of seeing men dominate women&#8217;s sports by pretending to be women.
Take for example this footage from NBC News&#8217; report last month. It&#8217;s about a bill that passed in the House, which would codify one of Donald Trump&#8217;s executive orders. The bill is called the &#8220;Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.&#8221; And the terms of the legislation are pretty simple. It would ban any school that receives federal funding from, &#8220;permitting a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls.&#8221; And the bill goes on to define &#8220;sex&#8221; as &#8220;solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth,&#8221; just in case there was any doubt about that.
This is the kind of legislation we need to see more of. It&#8217;s a meaningful step by Republicans in Congress to give some backbone to an executive order that&#8217;s extremely important. With that in mind, here&#8217;s how NBC News covered the House vote on this legislation back in January:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="001 NBC House" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/euixXxN1DJM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Right away, you can see that they&#8217;re framing this legislation as a bill that would &#8220;ban transgender girls and women from competing in women&#8217;s sports.&#8221; They&#8217;re not reporting the truth, which is that &#8220;transgender girls and women&#8221; are men. They&#8217;re not going into any detail about how obviously unfair it is for men to compete against women in sports. Instead, they&#8217;re trying to portray this law as some kind of mean-spirited, bigoted effort by Republican lawmakers.
And even on NBC News&#8217; YouTube channel — which has a very Left-leaning audience — this framing didn&#8217;t fly. Instead of condemning the ban, pretty much every single comment supports it. For example, the top comment reads, &#8220;can&#8217;t believe this is even being discussed; common sense is underrated.&#8221; Then someone says, &#8220;Finally the nonsense ends.&#8221; Another user replies, &#8220;As a woman and mother of a girl, I&#8217;m happy and grateful.&#8221;
I could go through about a dozen other videos like this. Forbes, for example, has a similar <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D01lcKNWSE0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video</a>. One of the top comments puts it this way: &#8220;As a former democrat, even if im liberal on certain subjects, it&#8217;s dumb s*** like this that has driven me and a lot of other folks away from this party. &#8230; Embarrassing.&#8221;
And again, every comment is like this.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mws-ep-1548-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h3>
So the pattern is familiar: Left-wing media outlets try to portray the Republicans as the villain of the story. And despite that framing, the comments section revolts. None of this is surprising, when you take a look at the polling data on the topic. Just a couple of weeks ago, a New York Times poll <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/01/19/us-news/nyt-poll-finds-majority-of-democrats-oppose-transgender-athletes-in-womens-sports/">found</a> that, &#8220;the vast majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, don’t think transgender athletes should be permitted to compete in women’s sports.&#8221; Roughly 80% of respondents said that &#8220;men who identify as women&#8221; should be banned from women&#8217;s sports. And among Democrats, the number was 67%.
Just to put these numbers in context, something like <a href="https://www.prri.org/research/analyzing-the-2024-presidential-vote-prris-post-election-survey/">4%</a> of Democrats voted for Donald Trump in the last election. This is a demographic that disagrees with Trump on pretty much everything. But when it comes to the farce of men competing in women&#8217;s sports, even these Democrats are forced to agree with him.
That&#8217;s why the vote that just took place in the Senate is so remarkable. Every single Democrat in the Senate — all 45 of them — just voted against the &#8220;Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.&#8221; In other words, 100% of the Democrat Party in the Senate still endorses the insanity of men competing against women. There was not one single defector. Despite the overwhelming number of voters — including Democrat voters — who are tired of this nonsense, Democrats in Washington are in complete lockstep on this issue. And they&#8217;re proud of it.
To give you some idea of how the day went, this is footage of Elizabeth Warren casting her vote. She makes sure everyone sees that she&#8217;s giving the big thumbs-down for the cameras:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="002 Sen Warren" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jfubfem-NPg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
This was so confusing that I went looking through the floor debates on this bill. I wanted to know what, exactly, could motivate the &#8220;party of democracy&#8221; to flagrantly disregard the clear desires of its own voters. I wanted to see what arguments they put forward. And I came across this speech from Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois. Here&#8217;s how it began. This is Dick Durbin&#8217;s argument for why the Senate should not pass a bill that bans men from competing against women in sports:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="003 Dick Durbin" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ubC_Y-rxmNs?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
What&#8217;s especially funny about this line of argument is that Durbin supported Democrats&#8217; &#8220;anti-lynching&#8221; law a few years back, even though lynching — and all other forms of murder — have been illegal for some time in this country. Somehow the fact that no black people have been lynched in several decades didn&#8217;t deter Durbin from supporting that law. But now we&#8217;re supposed to conclude that, because there aren&#8217;t thousands of men playing in women&#8217;s sports, the whole issue is moot.
This is the stock argument you hear all the time from trans activists. Of course, even assuming Durbin&#8217;s numbers are accurate — which of course, we should not assume that — this is still an argument that completely sidesteps two very important issues. The first is that women are indeed losing opportunities and being degraded in order to affirm the delusions of pathological narcissists. That&#8217;s not something we should allow, regardless of how many women are being affected. The other issue of course is that a functioning society has to be able to accept the reality of basic human biology. Even if you don&#8217;t care about the injustices that athletes like Riley Gaines have endured — and you obviously should care about those injustices — then you still have to explain some basic terms. You have to explain, for example, what a &#8220;woman&#8221; is. You have to explain what a &#8220;man&#8221; is. And as we all know, Democrats are incapable of doing this.
During the rest of Durbin&#8217;s speech he eventually gets around to making another argument, one that is even more revealing than the last one. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="004 Durbin Physical Inspection" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Sz4RFOJtO38?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
&nbsp;
I went back and read the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/28/text">legislation</a> he&#8217;s talking about. And contrary to what Durbin says, there&#8217;s nothing in there that permits a random adult — or any adult — to look at the private parts of a student athlete who&#8217;s accused of pretending to be a woman. So what he is saying is that Republicans are secretly obsessed with this kind of perversion, when in fact he&#8217;s the only one thinking along these lines. This is maybe a window into the sordid mental state of Dick Durbin and Democrats like him.
In reality, the bill simply bans men from competing against women. That&#8217;s it. And everyone understands exactly how that would be enforced, because it&#8217;s extremely, painfully obvious when men are playing in women&#8217;s sports. You don&#8217;t need any kind of examination. You don&#8217;t need to test their chromosomes. You can just look at them. In every single case involving a man playing in women&#8217;s sports, that&#8217;s been true. And it has never been a close call.
Of course Democrats like Dick Durbin have to pretend otherwise. They&#8217;ll watch a basketball game, and see one athlete towering over everyone else — with a gigantic Adam&#8217;s apple, twice the muscle mass and a James Earl Jones voice — and conclude that there&#8217;s just no way of knowing the athlete&#8217;s gender. They have to act like it&#8217;s a mystery, known only to perverted gender inspectors who are going around pants-ing student athletes at every opportunity.
But even though Durbin&#8217;s side of this argument was in the minority, Democrats have succeeded in killing the legislation. That&#8217;s because laws like this one have to overcome a filibuster, which requires 60 votes. And because the vote on this legislation was 51 in favor and 45 opposed, it won&#8217;t pass. Republicans have the majority, but they&#8217;re not able to pass a law like this one. It&#8217;s enough to make you wonder why Republicans don&#8217;t eliminate the filibuster entirely at this point. We all know Democrats will do the same thing the moment they have the opportunity — they&#8217;ve done it before, after all. And if Democrats are now so unhinged and so unreasonable that they&#8217;re willing to defend the idea of men playing in women&#8217;s sports, then it&#8217;s safe to say the filibuster has drifted very far from its original purpose. The point of the filibuster was to enable careful deliberation. Instead, at the moment, it&#8217;s enabling insanity.
Getting rid of the filibuster would also make it much easier to pass a federal ban on child castration and mutilation in the name of so-called &#8220;gender-affirming care,&#8221; which is something I&#8217;ve obviously been pushing for, especially since the beginning of the second Trump administration. A couple of days ago, one of the most prominent Republicans in the Senate, Josh Hawley, endorsed my proposal. <a href="https://x.com/HawleyMO/status/1895487068438180307" target="_blank" rel="noopener">He wrote</a>: &#8220;And not just this — but when is Congress going to give VICTIMS of these transition surgeries &amp; treatments the right to SUE the people who carried them out? Needs to happen now.&#8221;
This is the kind of legislation that Republicans need to enact, as quickly as they possibly can. Whatever procedural roadblocks are in the way, they need to be cleared. When Democrats are using the filibuster to obstruct the will of the vast majority of Americans — including their own voters — then it&#8217;s a pretty clear sign that the filibuster needs to go. It has outlived whatever usefulness it had. And once the filibuster is gone, we need to start passing laws that affirm the reality of basic, fundamental human biology. For the benefit of all young people — and to restore some semblance of sanity in this country — we now have no other choice.

Senators Speak To The Press After Their Weekly Policy Luncheons On Capitol Hill

Democrats Ignore The Will Of The People With This Insane Move

Filibuster

Gender

Matt Walsh

Transgender

U.S. House of Representatives

Women's sports

A critical vote on the nomination of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/kash-patel" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kash Patel</a> to become President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a>&#8216;s director of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/fbi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FBI</a> has been delayed at the behest of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/u-s-senate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Senate</a> Democrats.
The Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee was set to vote on advancing the nomination on Thursday, but that is now expected to happen in one week.
During a <a href="https://www.c-span.org/program/senate-committee/senate-judiciary-committee-delays-vote-on-fbi-director-nominee-kash-patel/655426" target="_blank" rel="noopener">meeting</a> of the panel, Chairman <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/chuck-grassley" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chuck Grassley</a> (R-IA) said the nomination was &#8220;held over,&#8221; recognizing a request by the Democrats as prescribed under committee rules.
As <a href="https://x.com/ChadPergram/status/1887530389402443876" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> by Fox News&#8217; Chad Pergram, Grassley also said the committee would send Patel&#8217;s nomination to the Senate floor &#8220;168 hours from now,&#8221; which is in seven days.
&#8220;Unbelievable. Democrat Senators are running scared,&#8221; Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) said in a post to X.
&#8220;They&#8217;re terrified that [Patel] is going to reform the 7th floor of the Hoover Building, arrest bad guys, and end 4 years of liberal weaponized government. Delay tactics are just that,&#8221; he added. &#8220;Kash WILL BE CONFIRMED.&#8221;
Democrats argue Patel is a problematic choice to lead the FBI and say they want more time to evaluate the nominee&#8217;s <a href="https://x.com/JudiciaryDems/status/1887148388757422179" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;misleading&#8221;</a> testimony.
&#8220;Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s FBI Director pick, is an unqualified, unserious nominee who will make us less safe,&#8221; Senate Judiciary Democrats <a href="https://x.com/JudiciaryDems/status/1887526239818424639" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on X.  &#8220;He’s a vengeful extremist — to the point that he seemingly lied under oath.&#8221;
The Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee previously secured a one-week delay on consideration of Pam Bondi to become U.S. Attorney General. After waiting seven days, the committee voted along party lines to advance Bondi&#8217;s nomination to the full Senate. The Senate <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-confirms-pam-bondi-for-attorney-general" target="_blank" rel="noopener">voted</a> 54-46 to confirm Bondi to the Cabinet role on Tuesday with Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) breaking ranks.
Grassley also criticized Democrats for &#8220;forcing&#8221; the committee to meet just to hold over a nominee, noting how Republicans did not pull such a move when they were in the minority in the last Congress.
&#8220;Our committee works best when both sides uphold norms regardless of which party holds the majority at any one time,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I&#8217;m disappointed that my colleagues aren&#8217;t reciprocating a courtesy we extended in good faith when we were in the minority.&#8221;
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the ranking member, acknowledged that what Grassley said was &#8220;true&#8221; and used the platform to disparage Patel.

Kash Patel

Dem ‘Delay Tactics’ Push Back Vote On Kash Patel For FBI Director

kash patel

Senator <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/john-kennedy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">John Kennedy</a> (R-LA) took a brief moment during Thursday&#8217;s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to throw a little shade at his colleague, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), over the latter&#8217;s claims that Kash Patel was a &#8220;conspiracy theorist.&#8221;
Kennedy addressed the comments to Patel, who was testifying before the committee as part of the Senate&#8217;s &#8220;advise and consent&#8221; process since being named by President Donald Trump to take over leadership of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
🚨KASH PATEL A CONSPIRACY THEORIST?
Here&#39;s the epic moment when <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnKennedyLA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JohnKennedyLA</a> mocked Sen. Durbin for calling <a href="https://twitter.com/Kash_Patel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Kash_Patel</a> a conspiracy theorist.
&quot;Sounds to me like we need to get some new conspiracy theories because all the old ones turned out to be true,&quot; <a href="https://twitter.com/SenJohnKennedy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenJohnKennedy</a> said.… <a href="https://t.co/N1goiWHa91">pic.twitter.com/N1goiWHa91</a>
&mdash; Tyler O&#39;Neil (@Tyler2ONeil) <a href="https://twitter.com/Tyler2ONeil/status/1885023700849709102?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;My colleague and friend Senator Durbin called you a &#8216;conspiracy theorist,'&#8221; Kennedy said to Patel. &#8220;You remember that?&#8221;
&#8220;I do, Senator,&#8221; Patel replied.
&#8220;You were instrumental in revealing the Trump-Russia election-collusion hoax was a hoax, weren&#8217;t you?&#8221; Kennedy asked.
Patel said that he was, and confirmed that he had been the lead investigator on that particular case. For a moment, Kennedy remained silent, hands folded, and simply nodded his head.
&#8220;Sounds to me like we need to get some new conspiracy theories because all the old ones turned out to be true,&#8221; he observed.
Patel laughed, and added, &#8220;Facts matter, senator.&#8221;
&#8220;I mean, conspiracy theorists are up something like 37 to nothing,&#8221; Kennedy said, prompting more laughter, before pivoting to a more serious line of questions: &#8220;You&#8217;re not saying everybody at the FBI is bad, are you?&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;ve never said that,&#8221; Patel replied. &#8220;I&#8217;ve overwhelmingly said, multiple times, that 98% of the FBI is courageous, apolitical warriors for justice. They just need better leadership.&#8221;
Patel&#8217;s hearing included a series of contentious exchanges with Democrats like Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who used her allotted time to make several attempts — all of which failed — to walk Patel into a rhetorical trap.
Also on Capitol Hill for hearings on Thursday were Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Rep. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tulsi-gabbard-spits-fire-in-opening-statement-i-refuse-to-be-their-puppet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tulsi Gabbard</a>, who was nominated to be Director of National Intelligence.

Twitter Whistleblower Peiter Zatko Testifies Before Senate Judiciary Committee

John Kennedy Mocks Dick Durbin For Calling Kash Patel A ‘Conspiracy Theorist’

John Kennedy Mocks Dick Durbin For Calling Kash Patel A 'Conspiracy Theorist'

John Kennedy

On Wednesday, the GOP-led <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/u-s-senate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Senate</a> amended the &#8220;Laken Riley Act,&#8221; a bill that would require federal officials to arrest illegal immigrants charged with crimes in the United States.
Seventy members, including Republicans and Democrats, <a href="https://www.congress.gov/amendment/119th-congress/senate-amendment/14/text" target="_blank" rel="noopener">voted</a> in favor of expanding the legislation&#8217;s list of criminal offenses that would lead to mandatory detention of &#8220;inadmissible aliens.&#8221;
Another 25 senators voted against the amendment from Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), all Democrats and the two independents who caucus with them. Several other members did not vote.
The bill, which got <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-again-passes-laken-riley-act-159-dems-vote-against-it" target="_blank" rel="noopener">approved</a> by the House last week, would direct the secretary of Homeland Security to detain illegal immigrants charged with, convicted of, or who admits to theft-related crimes.
With the amendment included, the list now <a href="https://www.congress.gov/amendment/119th-congress/senate-amendment/14/text" target="_blank" rel="noopener">also mentions</a> &#8220;the assault of a law enforcement officer offense, or any crime that results in death or serious bodily injury to another person.&#8221;
The Senate also <a href="https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1191/vote_119_1_00004.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rejected</a> an amendment from Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) to &#8220;strike&#8221; a section authorizing state attorneys general to sue federal immigration officials for alleged detention violations.
Laken Riley was a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student who was killed last year. An illegal immigrant from Venezuela, Jose Ibarra, was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-jose-ibarra-found-guilty-of-killing-georgia-nursing-student-laken-riley" target="_blank" rel="noopener">convicted</a> of murdering Riley and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/georgia-nursing-student-laken-riley-immigrant-d8d75ccc6d81e7a88eb7890829d9fc9c#:~:text=The%20killing%20added%20fuel%20to,entered%20the%20U.S.%20in%202022.&amp;text=The%20Venezuelan%20man%20convicted%20in,without%20the%20possibility%20of%20parole." target="_blank" rel="noopener">sentenced</a> to life in prison.
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?_gl=1*1lail3r*_gcl_aw*R0NMLjE3MzIyMDEyNDkuQ2owS0NRaUEwZnU1QmhEUUFSSXNBTVhVQk9JSkM0VnNsMFVreURxYXUxVWVEVWdOdjZkNzR2Y1pEeEZQeHVBcGl2R3BLaTdBMjVzT1p5TWFBdG1nRUFMd193Y0I.*_gcl_au*NDUxNDQ0NzYwLjE3MzY3ODI2NDY.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczNjk1NzYwMy4zNDAuMS4xNzM2OTU3NzE2LjYwLjAuMA.." target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?_gl%3D1*1lail3r*_gcl_aw*R0NMLjE3MzIyMDEyNDkuQ2owS0NRaUEwZnU1QmhEUUFSSXNBTVhVQk9JSkM0VnNsMFVreURxYXUxVWVEVWdOdjZkNzR2Y1pEeEZQeHVBcGl2R3BLaTdBMjVzT1p5TWFBdG1nRUFMd193Y0I.*_gcl_au*NDUxNDQ0NzYwLjE3MzY3ODI2NDY.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczNjk1NzYwMy4zNDAuMS4xNzM2OTU3NzE2LjYwLjAuMA..&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1737044212122000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3mp2MZNwEXBk00lKmCtOss">CELEBRATE #47 WITH 47% OFF DAILYWIRE+ MEMBERSHIPS + A FREE $20 GIFT</a>
A press release from Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), who <a href="https://collins.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-mike-collins-reintroduces-laken-riley-act" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reintroduced</a> the Laken Riley Act for the new Congress, said the bill &#8220;directly addresses one of the federal policy failures&#8221; related to the murder.
Ibarra was &#8220;previously cited for shoplifting by the Athens Police Department,&#8221; it said. &#8220;If local law enforcement had called ICE, and ICE issued a detainer and picked him up, Laken would be alive.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/5/amendments" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dozens</a> more amendments have been proposed, including <a href="https://x.com/SenatorDurbin/status/1879315360975097974" target="_blank" rel="noopener">two</a> from Judiciary ranking member Dick Durbin (D-IL) that would exempt Dreamers and give them and others a path to citizenship.
But C-SPAN&#8217;s Craig Caplan <a href="https://x.com/CraigCaplan/status/1879683513869312006" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has filed cloture on the bill, setting up a vote to advance it and limit amendments, with a 60-vote threshold.
Whatever new version of the Laken Riley Act may ultimately pass through the Senate would need another vote by the House before it could be sent to the president to possibly sign the bill into law.

US Senator John Cornyn (R-TX)

Senate Amends Laken Riley Act To Add More Crimes Requiring Detention Of Illegal Immigrants

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