Former US Senator David Durenberger (R-MN).
On November 7, 1978, Durenberger was elected to the United States Senate in a special election to complete the unexpired term of Senator Hubert Humphrey, who died earlier in the year; Humphrey's wife Muriel held the seat until Durenberger's election.[9][10] Durenberger was re-elected in 1982 and again in 1988, defeating Mark Dayton and Minnesota Attorney General Skip Humphrey, respectively.[11][12]
Durenberger was chair of the Select Committee on Intelligence in the 99th Congress,[5] and the Health Subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee, giving him a leadership role in national health reform. He also chaired the Intergovernmental Relations Subcommittee, led President Ronald Reagan's New Federalism effort in 1982, and was a 14-year member of the Advisory Committee on Intergovernmental Relations. He was a member of the Senate Environment Committee, the Government Affairs Committee, and the committee now known as the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and served as vice chair of the Pepper Commission in 1989–90.[5]
Durenberger was Senate sponsor of the Medicare Catastrophic act, the AHCPR (now AHRQ) on voting rights for the disabled, the Americans with Disabilities Act, George H. W. Bush's 1000 Points of Light, and Bill Clinton's National and Community Service Act, National Service Learning, the Consumer Choice Education Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Direct Lending Act, and the Women's Economic Equity Act. Durenberger voted for the bill establishing Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday and the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 (as well as to override President Reagan's veto).[13][14][15] He voted to confirm Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court.[16][17]
In 1990, the senate voted 96–0 to censure Durenberger for ethics violations related to evading limits on $100,000 in speaking fees and using his own condo in Minneapolis to collect $40,000 in travel reimbursements.[18] He remains the most recent United States senator to be censured. The Minnesota Supreme Court indefinitely suspended Durenberger's Minnesota law license on January 11, 1991, pursuant to a stipulation.[19] The Court reinstated his license on March 22, 2000.[20]
Durenberger did not run for reelection in 1994 and was succeeded by Rod Grams.[21] In 1995, he pleaded guilty to charges of misuse of public funds while in office and was sentenced to one year of probation.[22][23][24]
In 2005, Durenberger gave an interview on the Inside Minnesota Politics Podcast in which he said that he is no longer a supporter of the Republican Party but is not a supporter of the Democratic Party either. In an interview, he said that Democrats are better equipped to handle health care and that President George W. Bush was wrong about the Iraq War.[25] In 2010, Durenberger endorsed his former chief of staff, Independence Party member Tom Horner, for governor.[26]
Durenberger chaired the National Institute of Health Policy (NIHP) and was a Senior Health Policy Fellow at the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul. He served on the board of National Coalition on HealthCare. He has also served on national health commissions and boards, including the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission and Board of the National Commission on Quality Assurance (NCQA), and the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.[27][28]
Durenberger endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for president in 2016[1] and endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for president in 2020.[2] He was a member of the ReFormers Caucus of Issue One.[2]
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On November 7, 1978, Durenberger was elected to the United States Senate in a special election to complete the unexpired term of Senator Hubert Humphrey, who died earlier in the year; Humphrey's wife Muriel held the seat until Durenberger's election.[9][10] Durenberger was re-elected in 1982 and again in 1988, defeating Mark Dayton and Minnesota Attorney General Skip Humphrey, respectively.[11][12]
Durenberger was chair of the Select Committee on Intelligence in the 99th Congress,[5] and the Health Subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee, giving him a leadership role in national health reform. He also chaired the Intergovernmental Relations Subcommittee, led President Ronald Reagan's New Federalism effort in 1982, and was a 14-year member of the Advisory Committee on Intergovernmental Relations. He was a member of the Senate Environment Committee, the Government Affairs Committee, and the committee now known as the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and served as vice chair of the Pepper Commission in 1989–90.[5]
Durenberger was Senate sponsor of the Medicare Catastrophic act, the AHCPR (now AHRQ) on voting rights for the disabled, the Americans with Disabilities Act, George H. W. Bush's 1000 Points of Light, and Bill Clinton's National and Community Service Act, National Service Learning, the Consumer Choice Education Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Direct Lending Act, and the Women's Economic Equity Act. Durenberger voted for the bill establishing Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday and the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 (as well as to override President Reagan's veto).[13][14][15] He voted to confirm Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court.[16][17]
In 1990, the senate voted 96–0 to censure Durenberger for ethics violations related to evading limits on $100,000 in speaking fees and using his own condo in Minneapolis to collect $40,000 in travel reimbursements.[18] He remains the most recent United States senator to be censured. The Minnesota Supreme Court indefinitely suspended Durenberger's Minnesota law license on January 11, 1991, pursuant to a stipulation.[19] The Court reinstated his license on March 22, 2000.[20]
Durenberger did not run for reelection in 1994 and was succeeded by Rod Grams.[21] In 1995, he pleaded guilty to charges of misuse of public funds while in office and was sentenced to one year of probation.[22][23][24]
In 2005, Durenberger gave an interview on the Inside Minnesota Politics Podcast in which he said that he is no longer a supporter of the Republican Party but is not a supporter of the Democratic Party either. In an interview, he said that Democrats are better equipped to handle health care and that President George W. Bush was wrong about the Iraq War.[25] In 2010, Durenberger endorsed his former chief of staff, Independence Party member Tom Horner, for governor.[26]
Durenberger chaired the National Institute of Health Policy (NIHP) and was a Senior Health Policy Fellow at the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul. He served on the board of National Coalition on HealthCare. He has also served on national health commissions and boards, including the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission and Board of the National Commission on Quality Assurance (NCQA), and the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured.[27][28]
Durenberger endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for president in 2016[1] and endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden for president in 2020.[2] He was a member of the ReFormers Caucus of Issue One.[2]
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The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.