Durbin: Democrats are ready to change health care

March 25--BLOOMINGTON -- Hours after House Republicans withdrew their controversial replacement for Obamacare, Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin encouraged them to return to the negotiating table.

"If you take repeal off the table, I'm pulling up a chair to that table," he said. "I'm willing to sit down and concede it is not a perfect law."

The assistant Democratic leader in the Senate said he hopes Republicans will continue working to improve the Affordable Care Act, popularly called Obamacare, and he has two proposals to help them.

"The first thing I'd put on the table is a public option. ... A not-for-profit option with Medicare-style operations and Medicare-style reimbursement," he said.

"Second ... the pharmaceutical industry played us like a fiddle when we passed the (ACA) and made sure there was almost no regulation on their industry," he said. "I want them to be profitable. I want them to research. I want them to find the new cures.

"But they spend more on advertising than on research," he said. "That is not informing consumers. It is in fact bludgeoning consumers into putting pressure on doctors, and it's hurting the cost of the system."

Durbin reiterated that he favors universal health care, though he knows it's a long shot under a Republican president and Congress.

"This is the last chance for private insurance," he said. "We want to see if it works. If it doesn't, the next step is obvious."

Health care was the most frequent topic at a town hall meeting hosted by Illinois' senior senator Friday in Bloomington. More than 500 attendees packed Illinois Wesleyan University's Westbrook Auditorium at Presser Hall and gave Durbin a warm welcome.

After a brief statement on health care, Durbin took nearly 90 minutes of questions ranging from policy issues like education, environmental protection, gun control and immigration to philosophical issues like what Democrats should push as a new agenda and how newcomers can be successful in politics.

Durbin, who has frequently called for President Donald Trump to release his tax returns, called again for a "bipartisan, independent, transparent commission" to investigate his ties to the Russian government. He suggested former Secretary of State Colin Powell and retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, both conservatives, as co-chairs.

"In the meantime, we need a special prosecutor," he said. "Let's serve notice on (Russian President) Vladimir Putin that the next election will not be his playground."

Durbin said he supports Democrats' decision to filibuster the nomination of Supreme Court candidate Neil Gorsuch.

"For us to insist that a long-term appointment on the highest court should require 60 (Senate) votes is not a break with tradition at all," he said -- in contrast to Republicans' historic refusal to hold hearings for President Barack Obama's nominee to the same seat, Merrick Garland.

Durbin said he remains concerned with Trump's credibility and responsibility.

"He's destroying his presidential credibility 140 characters at a time," he said. "My greatest concern is that knock on that presidential bedroom door at 3 in the morning, where he's dozed off between tweets, and somebody says, 'You have five minutes to make a life-and-death decision.'"

Of what Democrats and others interested in resisting Trump can do, Durbin said they'd be wise to resemble the tea party movement rather than the Occupy Wall Street movement.

"I have one word for you: elections. ... We need to find good candidates who share our values and support them," he said. "That Freedom Caucus (of House members) is a product of the tea party movement. ... It has to translate into real work for real candidates and real victories."

Durbin deflected a question on whether he'll run for governor -- "I've got a full-time job, and I think it's pretty full," he said -- but he said "to allow this state to go on two years without a budget is obscene."

"It is going to be painful as hell. The solutions are going to involve taxes and cuts, and we're not going to like any of it. But suck it up, my friends. We've got to get through this to give the next generation a fighting chance," he said.

To close, Durbin alluded to Republican U.S. Reps. Rodney Davis of Taylorville and Darin LaHood of Dunlap, who also represent Bloomington but have refused to hold in-person town halls despite local rallies protesting that decision. Tammy Duckworth, Illinois' newly elected Democratic junior senator, has not held a town hall in the Twin Cities.

"I'm going to have to tell your congressmen this wasn't so bad," Durbin said. "I hope they do come and you give them a warm welcome for being brave enough to stand before an audience that is not on their side."

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Follow Derek Beigh on Twitter: @pg_beigh

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