During a press briefing on Thursday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) was asked about his decision to retire from the Senate.
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00:00When did you first start considering that this was going to be your last term?
00:04And was there something that was sort of a tipping point for you?
00:08No, this came down to this.
00:09I'm 80 years old, all right?
00:11I feel good and strong and healthy and go to work like I'm supposed to,
00:15travel back and forth to Washington every week.
00:18But I had to project forward.
00:20The campaign's going to last two years, and then you're going to serve six years.
00:24So are you ready to make an eight-year commitment?
00:26That's the truth and the reality of the United States Senate.
00:28I didn't think at this point it was the right thing to do.
00:31I think it was the right thing to pass the torch on to another generation.
00:34Do you have specific priorities for yourself being in the minority party for this last year and a half in office?
00:41Well, I'm going to look for opportunities,
00:43but I'm going to spend a lot of time talking to my Republican colleagues,
00:46many of whom have sent me nice messages in the last 24 hours.
00:50I'm going to beg them to stand up and fight with us
00:53to protect the constitutional authority of the United States Senate.
00:57But we can't give this away.
01:00Trade, for example, I know you follow agriculture very carefully.
01:03The trade war and the decisions on trade policy under the Constitution are on the backs of Congress.
01:10We said in an emergency situation, we would delegate that to the president.
01:14This president is declaring an emergency.
01:17We don't have an emergency situation with Canada.
01:20Canada, for God's sake, is one of our most important trading partners.
01:24And now we're going into a trade war with Canada.
01:27Is that the message of the last presidential campaign?
01:29People laugh out loud when you say that.
01:31But it's sad that we've reached that point.
01:33The point I'm making to you is if we as a Congress step up
01:36and assert our constitutional authority and responsibility,
01:40then we can slow down this president from all these executive orders that he's been issuing.
01:44Senator Dirk.