In The News
Duckworth celebrates 'Alive Day' 16 years after she 'almost died but didn't'
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) celebrated "Alive Day" 16 years after she "almost died but didn't" in a helicopter crash that took both of her legs. "Today is my Alive Day, the anniversary of the day I almost died but didn't," Duckworth penned on Twitter. "On this day 16 years ago, an RPG tore through the cockpit of the Blackhawk I was co-piloting, taking my legs and partial use of my right arm with it." Alive Day is a personal date for when a veteran almost loses their life while in combat, … Continue Reading
November 11, 2020
Pritzker, Duckworth Celebrate Completion of Long Delayed Veterans Home on Northwest Side
The first home for Illinois veterans in Chicago will welcome its first residents in February 2021 - more than four years after it was scheduled to open, officials announced Wednesday. Surrounded by state and federal officials, Gov. J.B. Pritzker celebrated the completion of construction of the $118 million, five-story, 187,000-square-foot facility at 4250 N. Oak Park Ave. in Chicago's Dunning neighborhood. Construction on the 200-bed facility started in 2014 under former Gov. Pat Quinn, but … Continue Reading
October 27, 2020
Control the virus and protect workers — and the American economy will roar back
Over the past few months, President Donald Trump's performance has been both unprecedented and unpresidential. He's endangered those around him by trying to transform the pandemic into a culture war. He's derided science, claiming facts are fiction and that his own beliefs should be considered canon. He's stoked xenophobia without a second thought. And time after time, he's shown that he neither understands nor respects the heroes protecting this country - the men and women defending it from … Continue Reading
October 21, 2020
New bill aims to help meet military families' childcare needs with visa exemptions for au pairs
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., introduced a bill aimed at helping military families with childcare by providing certain visa exemptions for au pairs providing care to military kids during the pandemic. The legislation would specifically expand J-1 visa exemptions for the au pairs. Before the pandemic gripped the world, the Pentagon released a report that showed the Defense Department couldn't meet the demand for military family childcare -- able to accommodate about 78% of demand overall. … Continue Reading
October 10, 2020
Sen. Tammy Duckworth was once told to pump breast milk in an airport toilet stall. Now she has unlocked funding to put lactation rooms in all of America's airports
When Senator Tammy Duckworth had her first daughter in 2015, the then-member of the House found herself in a bind. She was traveling back-and-forth between Illinois and Washington, DC for work, but also had to pump breast milk for her baby - and often couldn't find a place to do it. "I was told to use the handicapped stall, the toilet, which is disgusting," Sen. Duckworth told Business Insider during a recent interview. "You wouldn't eat a sandwich in there. Why would you ask me to express … Continue Reading
October 09, 2020
Tammy Duckworth: “I fear Amy Coney Barrett may outlaw families like mine”
A little over two years ago, swathed in blankets and surrounded by many of my Senate colleagues, my then ten-day-old daughter napped her way into history when she became the first infant allowed onto the Senate floor. That afternoon, I held her in my arms while I cast a vote, fulfilling my duty to the Constitution, my constituents, and my newborn. I will never forget that moment, as my Republican and Democratic colleagues alike stood up and cheered for that milestone while little Maile Pearl … Continue Reading
October 08, 2020
Sen. Tammy Duckworth Wants Lactation Rooms in Every U.S. Airport
Shortly after giving birth to her first daughter, Abigail, in 2015, Sen. Tammy Duckworth found herself in an airport bathroom stall pumping breast milk from a toilet seat. There were no other private options in the terminal. Duckworth knew she wasn't alone in wanting a sanitary space to breastfeed or pump while traveling. At the time, she discovered that while 62 percent of airports in the U.S. called themselves "breastfeeding-friendly," only 8 percent had private, clean nursing areas with a … Continue Reading
October 06, 2020
Pump breast milk in an airport bathroom? You shouldn’t have to, says Tammy Duckworth
When then-Rep. Tammy Duckworth had her first daughter in 2014, she found herself in a can't-win position flying back and forth from Illinois to Washington. She needed to pump her breast milk every three hours to feed Abigail, the baby. But there was no place to do it. She asked airport officials. How about the handicapped stall in the bathroom, they suggested? "That's disgusting," said the Illinois Democrat, now a senator with two daughters. How about the sinks in the bathroom, they asked? … Continue Reading
October 06, 2020
How Tammy Duckworth's experience with breastfeeding and IVF guides her policy
Hours before President Trump revealed his positive COVID-19 test, Congress sent a bill to his desk: the Friendly Airports for Mothers Improvement Act. The legislation, championed by Sen. Tammy Duckworth, requires that nearly all U.S. airports include lactation rooms for nursing-and traveling-mothers. Duckworth first introduced a bill on this topic in 2015; it was signed into law two years ago, but applied only to medium and large airports. The new act would extend the same regulations to … Continue Reading
October 05, 2020
Duckworth warns Amy Coney Barrett confirmation could put IVF procedures at 'high risk'
Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth urged her Republican colleagues to reconsider their support for President Trump's Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett, citing the judge's past support of a group opposed to in vitro fertilization and her own experience with the treatment in conceiving her daughters. Duckworth, D-Ill., in an exclusive interview with Fox News, warned that a confirmation of Barrett to the high court puts IVF procedures "very much at risk," after a report last week … Continue Reading
October 02, 2020
A Senator Wrote An Impassioned Letter To Her Colleagues About Her IVF Treatment And Trump's Supreme Court Nominee
Following reports that Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, supported an anti-abortion group that opposes in vitro fertilization, Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois wrote an impassioned letter to her colleagues Friday, citing her own experience with IVF and the conception of her 2-year-old daughter, Maile. "I write to each of you today, and especially to my Republican colleagues who cooed and cuddled Maile when she first visited the Capitol, in the hope that you … Continue Reading
October 02, 2020
Citing fears about I.V.F., Tammy Duckworth urges Senate not to confirm Judge Barrett
Senator Tammy Duckworth, Democrat of Illinois, raised concerns about Judge Amy Coney Barrett's views on in vitro fertilization on Friday and urged the Senate not to confirm her. Ms. Duckworth's two daughters were conceived using in vitro fertilization, or I.V.F., and her youngest became the first infant to appear on the Senate floor in 2018. In her letter, Ms. Duckworth said she felt "dread and anguish" when she learned that Judge Barrett "likely doesn't believe my little Maile and my … Continue Reading
September 26, 2020
Duckworth to vote ‘no’ on Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination while Durbin says he doesn’t know if she’s qualified
Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth on Saturday said she would vote against Amy Coney Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court, while Sen. Dick Durbin said he didn't know if she was qualified. In a statement as President Donald Trump announced the South Bend, Indiana, judge's nomination during a White House Rose Garden ceremony, Duckworth lashed out at majority Senate Republicans for pushing Barrett's nomination so close to the election. "Instead of addressing the many life-and-death … Continue Reading
September 25, 2020
Sen. Tammy Duckworth: “Ginsburg Changed This Nation—and My Own Life—Time and Again”
Our democracy may have been founded in the 18th century-but it wasn't fully built when the ink dried on the Declaration of Independence. It was forged and formed not just by those whose faces loom large on Mount Rushmore, but by someone who was often the smallest, quietest person in nearly every room she ever walked into. A five-foot-one-inch giant, Ruth Bader Ginsburg changed this nation-and my own life-time and again, seeing no challenge too big and finding no cause too small to fight for. … Continue Reading
September 23, 2020
Sen. Tammy Duckworth Introduces Bill to Ban Camouflage for Federal Agents
Illinois Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth introduced legislation on Wednesday to prevent federal agents in the U.S. from wearing camouflage uniforms. During violent protests against racism in some U.S. cities, federal agents who were sent to the demonstrations by the White House were spotted wearing camo. Some observers mistakenly identified those agents as members of the military. In July, the Pentagon expressed concern about the similarity between the uniform styles. Duckworth's proposal, … Continue Reading
September 23, 2020
Sen. Duckworth introduces bill to ban federal law enforcement from wearing camouflage
WASHINGTON - Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., introduced a bill Wednesday that would ban the use of camouflage uniforms by federal law enforcement following criticism during the summer that federal agents assigned to control racial protests looked like National Guard troops. "The Trump administration's decision to deploy federal law enforcement officers outfitted in camouflage uniforms in response to those protesting the death of George Floyd and other Black Americans blurred the lines between … Continue Reading
September 22, 2020
New policies now in place for military children seeking US citizenship
WASHINGTON - Military children who are not U.S. citizens and live overseas with their American parents are finally able to obtain citizenship automatically now that a new law is being implemented by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which had changed the policy last year. USCIS announced Friday that it had updated its policy to implement the Citizenship for Children of Military Members and Civil Servants Act, almost a year after the agency had changed how it determined the residency … Continue Reading
September 22, 2020
Automatic citizenship has been restored for some troops’ children born abroad
Last year, a federal policy update put citizenship in jeopardy for a handful of military children born abroad every year. Lawmakers decried the move and worked up legislation to fix the issue, and as of September, part of the policy has been rescinded. The Citizenship for Children of Military Members and Civil Servants Act, passed by Congress in March and first implemented this month, requires U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to recognize automatic citizenship once again for children … Continue Reading
September 21, 2020
Duckworth pushing for sanctions on anyone tied to bounties on American forces
Senator Tammy Duckworth is very outspoken about the reports Russians are paying bounties in the Middle East for killing American forces in Afghanistan. She pushed for an investigation. Now she introduced legislation. This is the second part of our conversation on this week's 4 The Record. Anyone who follows you knows you are very passionate about the military. You're among a group of senators who introduced legislation last week in response to concerns that Russia is putting bounties on … Continue Reading
September 19, 2020
No, We Weren’t ‘Suckers’ or ‘Losers’
If Donald Trump had been on the battlefield with me in Iraq back in November 2004, I doubt I ever would've made it home. In the Army, part of our soldier's creed involves never leaving a fallen comrade behind. The only reason I am alive today is that, after a rocket-propelled grenade exploded in the Black Hawk helicopter I was co-piloting, my buddies embodied that creed. They thought I was dead but still risked their own safety to bring my body back home to my family. Only when they got me to … Continue Reading
