In The News
New rule will require airlines to report damaged wheelchairs and all mishandled luggage
by Marni Pyke
Source: Daily Herald
After a lengthy flight, most passengers are poised to spring into action when their airplane lands. But what if, during the flight, the airline damaged your "legs"? That's how passengers who use wheelchairs like U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth feel when their means of independent transportation are broken by carriers' mishandling. The problem sparked a new federal rule requiring airlines to declare how many wheelchairs or motorized scooters are damaged or lost. It goes into effect this month … Continue Reading
December 06, 2018
Senator Calls on VA, credit bureaus to prevent lasting consequences from GI Bill delays
by Nikki Wentling
Source: Stars and Stripes
WASHINGTON - Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., on Thursday urged the Department of Veterans Affairs and major credit reporting agencies to intervene on behalf of student veterans who could experience long-term financial repercussions from not receiving their monthly housing stipends on time this semester. Citing information technology failures, the VA missed a deadline in August to implement part of the new "Forever" GI Bill, which Congress approved last year. The issue resulted in thousands of … Continue Reading
December 04, 2018
Here's How Women Are Changing the Most Important Workspace in America
by Samantha Zabell
Source: Apartment Therapy
Many homeowners know the experience of moving into an outdated space and planning some much-needed renovations. For the 102 women elected to Congress during the 2018 midterm elections (a record, by the way), they may not be able to gut the place but they could influence some major building changes. Now that nearly one in five legislators on Capitol Hill will be a woman, the building needs to prepare for these leaders and their teams. For decades, Capitol Hill was a man's world and they … Continue Reading
November 30, 2018
Duckworth hosts roundtable on Sterigenics concerns
by Mebach and Julian Crews
Source: WGN
DARIEN, Ill. -- U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth visited DuPage County Friday morning to hear from Willowbrook area residents affected by the release of a cancer causing chemical from a local plant over more than 30 years. Sterigenics uses ethylene oxide to sterilize medical equipment and instruments. During a closed door roundtable discussion with residents, the Democratic lawmaker said several members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation are promising action. They will demand the EPA release … Continue Reading
November 21, 2018
Thankful for Americans Who Serve, Both In and Out of the Military
by Tammy Duckworth
Source: Huffington Post
Fourteen years ago this month, I spent Thanksgiving at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. A rocket-propelled grenade had torn through the cockpit of my Black Hawk helicopter two weeks prior, costing me both my legs, partial use of my right arm and nearly my life, too. I'd only survived thanks to the unbelievable heroism of my crew, so from the moment I woke up in the hospital, my conception of gratitude was forever changed. I was grateful to breathe. To cry. To have my husband by my … Continue Reading
November 16, 2018
Duckworth: Trump failed in supporting troops
by CNN
Source: CNN: Anderson Cooper 360
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) said that President Donald Trump has "failed miserably when it comes to supporting our troops and their … Continue Reading
November 12, 2018
Sen Duckworth: Race Riot site should be declared a national monument
by Tammy Duckworth
Source: The State Journal Register
Illinois is poised to celebrate its bicentennial next month. But as we mark this important milestone in our state's history, we must also memorialize the 110th anniversary of the deadly 1908 Race Riots. During the Race Riots, a mob of white residents murdered at least six African-Americans, burned black homes and businesses and attacked hundreds of citizens. Vitriol and hate reigned, as person after person was killed for no reason other than the color of their skin. For having the nerve to … Continue Reading
November 11, 2018
Chicago Veterans Honored at City Hall, with help from Sen. Duckworth
by Nancy Harty
Source: WBBM Newsroom
Chicago honored veterans in a ceremony at City Hall Sunday, on the 100th anniversary of the unofficial end of World War One. Brigadier General Mark C Jackson said the Illinois National Guard has been activated several times over the years to help in not only that war, but wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan, as well as to aid with flooding at home in 1993. US Sen.Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran and Purple Heart recipient, said she doesn't think the country is that much better at taking … Continue Reading
November 11, 2018
I Owe My Life to the Warrior Ethos of My Fellow Troops
by Tammy Duckworth
Source: Military.com
"I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade." I can still recite the lines of the Warrior Ethos -- but I'm alive today because when it mattered most, when the stakes were highest and everything seemed to go wrong, my crew didn't just remember the Ethos. They embodied every word of it. I'm able to write this because 14 years ago tomorrow, my buddies refused to leave me behind when a [rocket-propelled grenade] tore … Continue Reading
November 02, 2018
Durbin, Duckworth, Foster want probe of Trump EPA response to Sterigenics cancer Risks
by Michael Hawthorne
Source: The Chicago Tribune
Both U.S. senators from Illinois and a Chicago-area congressman are calling for an independent investigation of the Trump administration's response to federal research that found the Sterigenics plant in west suburban Willowbrook is responsible for some of the nation's highest cancer risks from toxic air pollution. People living near the sterilization plant deserve to know more about why political appointees at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency delayed releasing the findings to the … Continue Reading
October 18, 2018
Senator Duckworth Educates Congress on Impacts of Military Decisions
by Bianca Strzalkowski
Source: Military Families
When you walk into the office of Senator Tammy Duckworth, on display are symbols of the many roles she represents. To the right, the Soldier's Creed hangs above her desk just as it hung above her bed when she was recovering at Walter Reed. On the left side of the room sits a bassinet adorned with white and pink plush for the newest member of her family, baby Maile. The senator always knew she would serve her country in some way, but she thought it would be in a different capacity. She says … Continue Reading
October 18, 2018
The 50 Most Influential People in Health Care in 2018: Senator Tammy Duckworth
by Robin Marty
Source: TIME
U.S. Senator Duckworth has long been an advocate of breastfeeding accommodations, including introducing legislation that requires all medium and large airports to offer a lactation room for mothers. But when the Illinois Democrat became the first Senator to give birth in office, this April, that activism was pushed to the next level as she fought to get long-standing congressional rules against allowing a child on the Senate floor overturned to allow her to nurse her newborn. Since then, … Continue Reading
October 17, 2018
Women and Power: Tammy Duckworth Says Damn Straight She Fights Like A Girl
by Rachel Combe
Source: The Cut
Tammy Duckworth, senator from Illinois and Purple Heart-decorated Army helicopter pilot, is in the middle of a detailed rant about identity politics and discrimination, when she comes to a screeching halt. She blinks. She's blanked on a name. "God, he's my friend," she says, smacking her forehead. "I didn't get any sleep last night. I got in late from Illinois." Duckworth and her husband split their time between Chicago and D.C. "My older girl was watching My Little Pony on YouTube. Everything … Continue Reading
October 12, 2018
Nursing Rooms for Breastfeeding moms now required at all major airports
by Jennifer McClellan
Source: USA TODAY
Nursing moms will soon find it easier to travel through airports across the country. Commercial airports will be required to provide lactation rooms at each passenger terminal building of the airport, thanks to the passage of the Friendly Airports for Mothers Act (FAM) of 2017. The act was included in the five-year reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration that president Trump signed on Oct. 5. Many airports already have such rooms, whether they're called a mother's room, … Continue Reading
October 11, 2018
Duckworth releases statement criticizing Sessions’ opposition of CPD reform
by Jonah Dylan
Source: The Daily Northwestern
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) on Wednesday condemned Attorney General Jeff Sessions' announcement that he will oppose a decree to reform the Chicago Police Department. The decree followed a 200 page report by the Department of Justice, which investigated CPD after the shooting of Laquan McDonald in 2016. McDonald was shot by a white police officer, Jason Van Dyke, who was convicted of second-degree murder on Friday. In her statement, Duckworth criticized the Trump administration for … Continue Reading
September 27, 2018
Tammy Duckworth Intros Measure Aimed at Getting Lead Out of Public Housing
by Tiffany D. Cross
Source: The Beat DC
Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) this week introduced bipartisan legislation to protect families living in assisted housing from lead found in drinking water. More than 4 million children in the U.S. are living in environments with lead-based paint, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Lead exposure can have serious consequences for the health of children. At high levels of exposure, lead attacks the brain and central nervous system to cause coma, convulsions, and even … Continue Reading
September 20, 2018
Sen. Tammy Duckworth: How We Can End the Maternal Death Epidemic
by Senator Tammy Duckworth
Source: Fortune
My baby girl Maile made history the moment she was born, before she had even opened her eyes. When I gave birth to Maile this past April, I became the first U.S senator to have a child while serving in office. And when I carried her, onesie and all, into the chamber for a vote 10 days later, she became the first newborn ever allowed onto the Senate floor. But through my nine months of pregnancy-and my time in labor-I wasn't thinking about making history. I was thinking about staying … Continue Reading
September 12, 2018
Senator Tammy Duckworth on the Attack that Took Her Legs—and Having a Baby at 50
by Rebecca Johnson
Source: Vogue
ILLINOIS SENATOR Ladda Tammy Duckworth owns a great pair of legs. They're painstakingly painted by an artist to match the skin tone of her arm-right down to the freckles-and the second toe on one foot is longer than the first, just like her own used to be. But Duckworth can't stand them. "When I see myself wearing those legs in a mirror, I see loss. But when I see this"-she gestures toward the steel-and-titanium prosthesis attached to her thigh above her right knee-"I see strength. I see a … Continue Reading
September 07, 2018
Duckworth: Kavanaugh is no friend to Midwestern farmers
by Tammy Duckworth
Source: Quad-City Times
Our farmers not only feed us, they also help power our nation through the production of biofuels and renewable energy. As someone who fought in uniform to defend this country, I've seen firsthand the price we pay for our dangerous dependence on foreign oil - and I'd rather burn American-grown corn and soybeans in my gas tank than oil from the Middle East. After all, biofuels help make us more energy secure, and in doing so, they make our nation stronger and help us maintain our … Continue Reading
September 05, 2018
Tammy Duckworth: Brett Kavanaugh Would Put Businesses Ahead of Americans With Disabilities on the Supreme Court
by Tammy Duckworth
Source: TIME
When I first woke up at Walter Reed in November 2004, I had no idea that I was disabled. I had no idea that, in the blink of an eye, I had lost both my legs when a grenade tore through the helicopter I was piloting just north of Baghdad. It took me days to recognize the reality of my disability, months to learn how to walk again and years to get used to the constant, hammering pain that's still there, even when I'm just sitting down. Despite it all, I consider myself pretty lucky - not only … Continue Reading
