Dick Durbin Quotes

Our democratic system is slowly being corroded and eroded by the influence of PAC money.

Spending limits not only do not work, they have the perverse effect of making special interests more powerful and more influential.

Eventually, money wins in politics.

The Federal campaign contribution limit of $2,500 is way too low. You can’t even buy a Democrat for $2,500.

Our politics has been greatly impacted, for the worse, by big money and the concentration of big money.

The principal reasons that special interests can extract their price from government is money .... Those who do not accept money from PACs are those who have other sources.

Congressman are spending too much time raising money.

Congress has become the center of legalized bribery/

There are three things that are important in politics today: money, money and money.

Donald Trump came to a political field that had already been shaped by big money in politics.

Research who your politicians are, even; know what they do, know who they're supported by legislatively, and know who is supporting them financially for their campaigns. Because ever since Citizens United, we've seen a massive growth in the amount of campaign contributions and corruption in politics as a result, and that has to change.

Washington is dominated by big money.

Money has too big an influence on our politics in Washington and somehow we need to do something about that.

There are a lot of grotesqueries in politics, not the least of which is the fund-raising side.

You can't take a congressman to lunch for $25 and buy him a hamburger or a steak or something like that. But you can take him to a fund-raising lunch and not only buy him that steak, but give him $25,000 extra and call it a fund-raiser - and have all the same access and all the same interactions with that congressman.

The reality is that asking the public to fund political campaigns accomplishes nothing. Candidates continue to seek interest-group support through other channels, both financial and in-kind, and corruption problems abound.

But having said that, what's happening with campaign finance reform and our political culture is devastating.

People like Elizabeth Dole have given too much power to the special interests.

All elections revolve around and are often resolved by who raises the most money. That's unfair. I'd like to see that process changed, but it seems once you win and get to Congress, that doesn't happen.

Politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money even to be defeated.

It starts with campaign finance reform.

The flood of money that gushes into politics today is a pollution of democracy.

Politics has got so expensive that it takes lots of money to even get beat with.

Special interests and Congress are too closely connected and the ties that bind are the millions spent on campaigns.

Money in politics leads to bad things—and I am bipartisan in that view.