Durbin on the ethics bill:

The GOP filibuster threat vanished during the day. An ethics bill passed. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the Senate Majority leader, called it the “most sweeping ethics and lobbing reform legislation in the history of the country.”

Negotiations were going on Wednesday and Thursday. A “poison pill” GOP Senate leader wanted in the ethics bill disappeared when GOP leaders realized that they would end up being held responsible for killing the ethics package.

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from Durbin’s office….

[Washington, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today

applauded the passage of S.1, bipartisan ethics reform legislation to

limit the influence of lobbyists on Capitol Hill and tighten

Congressional rules. S.1 is the most sweeping ethics and lobbying

reform legislation in the history of the country.

“Democrats are taking down the ‘For Sale’ sign on the Capitol and

putting up a new sign: Under New Management,” Durbin said.

Durbin added, “With their votes last November, the American

people made it clear that they wanted us to change the way Washington

works and that’s exactly what the Senate did today.”

“Today is a new day in the Senate: No more secret earmarks;

no more gifts and trips paid for by special interests; no more

‘pay-to-play’ schemes like the notorious K Street project; and no more

leaving government service and cashing in immediately on your contacts

and experience as a lobbyist. Public service is a privilege, not a

commodity to be traded or sold for profit,” Durbin concluded.