Dick Durbin Quotes

Privatization of assets that most of us consider public goods - like airports and highways - has a long, often-uncontroversial history.

I think this notion that public enterprises do not work and therefore nationalization will be a disaster, I mean, it's not supported by evidence.

Where the federal government and the taxpayer has had funds misused, we need to use the full extent of the law to get those funds back for the taxpayer.

Back in the days when the market was a kind of secular god and all the world thrilled to behold the amazing powers of private capital, the idea of privatizing highways and airports and other bits of our transportation infrastructure made a certain kind of sense.

We're not the bosses of taxpayers; they're ours.

Democratic government is responsible government—which means accountable government--and the essential problem in contracting out is that responsibility and accountability are greatly diminished.

There are always ways to make government better, always ways to make sure that the taxes of people are better spent.

Taxpayers should be able to see where their money is being spent and what impact it is having.

We should never waive the checks on government spending that taxpayers deserve.

My goal is to give our taxpayers greater access and visibility into how their taxpayer dollars are being spent.

The American taxing structure, the purpose of which was to serve the people, began instead to serve the insatiable appetite of government. If you will forgive me, you know someone has once likened government to a baby. It is an alimentary canal with an appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.

Congress has the constitutional authority to investigate the other agencies of government. We are the watchdogs of the taxpayer's money, and we have the right to know how that money is being spent and to conduct oversight over the government.

As a government watchdog, I'm always looking for ways to make government smaller, more efficient, and fairer.

The tax money belongs to the taxpayers. It doesn't belong to the bureaucracy. And government is not a welfare system.

Instead of incentivizing quick, short-term decisions, the federal government should be asking the tough questions when governments turn over publicly funded transportation assets to for-profit operators.

Taxpayers should demand that their states honestly assess public pension plans, accurately measure the assets and liabilities, and take steps to provide fair benefits to public employees that limit taxpayers' liability.

If Mohammed bin Salman wants to deal properly with corruption, he must preserve two elements vital to the Saudi economy: trust in the state and the role of national companies.

The entire intelligence community is so bloated and so reliant on contractors. There's no question there's many tasks that make sense to outsource, and yet, we have followed blindly this dogma that if it's private contracting, it must be better.

For the states that take the lead on reform - asset recycling, deregulation, service innovation - the Federal Government could step back, and allow greater flexibility in how we deliver our responsibilities.

We can't let government make long-term commitments that it may not be able to keep.

Whistleblowers play a vital role in ensuring that the federal government is accountable to the people it serves.

The biggest difference between the private sector and public sector is in the private sector, there's a sense of urgency because you have customers and you have competitors. Whereas in government, one of your major objectives is to not make any really big mistakes.

We have a lot of taxpayers in this city who deserve to get every nickel of their tax dollars that they're entitled to from Washington, and I intend to make that happen.

It is indefensible that IRS Commissioner Koskinen has not been held accountable for failing to meet his legal obligations. This is exactly what the American people are tired of when they say that our government is on the wrong track.

We've very steadily and single-mindedly been building the bureau so that we can do the work that, quote, Congress required us to do and that the American people have every reason to expect, and deserve, that we will do.