Illinois General Assembly honors retiring U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin's career

After 44 years in elected office, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin is saying farewell. The retiring senator was honored Wednesday at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield with a standing ovation.

In his farewell address, Durbin mentioned his fight to ban smoking on airplanes, and his personal connection to the Dream Act, which he's been trying to pass since 2001 to provide protection from deportation and legal status to undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children.

Durbin's mother, an immigrant from Lithuania, became a U.S. citizen in 1935, and the senator keeps her naturalization certificate in his office.

"I put it there because I want everybody who comes into my office to realize that I'm proud to be the son of an immigrant," Durbin said.

Durbin started his political career in Springfield in 1969, as legal counsel to then Lt. Gov. Paul Simon, before Durbin was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1976.

In 1982, Durbin was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996, becoming the longest-serving U.S. Senator in Illinois history. He is stepping down at the end of his term next year.