In The News

February 06, 2018

Senator Tammy Duckworth proves it's not unpatriotic to question your superiors

by Senator Tammy Duckworth
Source: Quartz

On Nov. 12, 2004, shortly after her troop in the US National Guard had been deployed to Iraq, lieutenant colonel Tammy Duckworth was co-piloting a Black Hawk over Baghdad when she heard a hail of small-arms fire. A rocket-propelled grenade exploded directly beneath the cockpit where she was sitting. She immediately lost both of her legs. She awoke in pain—and anger—11 days later at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC. Duckworth would later describe this place as … Continue Reading


February 05, 2018

Duckworth opens Senate constituent office in Carbondale

by Staff

U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., has opened a new Senate constituent service office in Carbondale's Eurma C. Hayes Center, located at 441 E. Willow St. The office can be reached by phone at (618) 677-7000. Duckworth's Carbondale Office will provide a number of services to Illinoisans including assistance with veterans affairs, Social Security, Medicare, small-business development and other issues involving federal agencies. "I'm opening one of my first Senate offices in Carbondale because … Continue Reading


February 05, 2018

Duckworth: 2018 is past time to get real on paid leave

by Senator Tammy Duckworth
Source: CNN

Two weeks ago, I announced that I am pregnant. Since there are only 22 female senators -- and none has ever given birth while they served in the United States Senate -- I knew my announcement was going to get some attention. To be honest, I was a little surprised and overwhelmed by just how much attention our good news received. I was congratulated everywhere I went. I was asked to do tons of interviews. People even said nice things on Twitter, which is not always the friendliest space. … Continue Reading


January 27, 2018

Tammy Duckworth: The mother making history in the US Senate

by Staff
Source: BBC

Tammy Duckworth is used to being a trailblazer. A double amputee, she was the first disabled woman elected to the US Congress. Born in Bangkok to a Thai mother and American father, she was also among the first Asian-American women in Congress. And now, as confirmed in a gleeful tweet this week, she will be the first woman to have a baby while serving in the US Senate. It was "about damn time", the 49-year-old said. "I can't believe it took until 2018." On the day Donald Trump defied the … Continue Reading


January 23, 2018

Sen. Tammy Duckworth Talks About Her Trip To South Korea

by Rachel Martin
Source: NPR

Rachel Martin talks to Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, an Iraq war veteran, who recently returned from a trip to South Korea and the DMZ, about the threat of nuclear war with North Korea. RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: There were protests yesterday in Seoul, South Korea, a protest that disrupted a visit by North Korean officials. MARTIN: The protesters told NPR they are skeptical that these new plans for uniting the two Korean teams at the next month's Winter Olympics will ease tensions … Continue Reading


January 23, 2018

Tammy Duckworth is pregnant; will be 1st senator to give birth

by Lynn Sweet

WASHINGTON - In the history of the nation, only 10 members of Congress have given birth while in office and Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., is one of them. Soon Duckworth will be in a class by herself. Duckworth told me she is expecting her second child, another girl, in late April, a few weeks after she turns 50. The birth will make Duckworth the nation's first senator to have a baby while serving in the chamber. Sen. Dick Durbin D-Ill., said in a statement, "I am proud to have her as my … Continue Reading


December 18, 2017

Tammy Duckworth reflects on first term in U.S. Senate

by Staff
Source: WMAQ

CHICAGO (WLS) --From partisan bickering and sexual harassment scandals to a battle royale over tax cuts, freshman Senator Tammy Duckworth's first year in office has been quite a ride. Senator Duckworth began her first term in the Senate at the same time Donald Trump was taking over the White House. And for anyone who has remotely followed this past year in Washington, the term "interesting" might be the most polite way to describe it.Duckworth is no stranger to battles: the Iraqi War veteran … Continue Reading


December 08, 2017

Trump’s Scare Tactics on North Korea Scare Us

by Editorial Board

North Korea's launch last week of a type of missile that may soon be able to deliver a nuclear warhead to the United States mainland set off the Trump administration on a troubling new trajectory. In the space of a week: Nikki Haley, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, warned that tensions with North Korea made it an "open question" whether American athletes would be able to compete in the Winter Olympics in South Korea in February. (The White House press secretary, Sarah … Continue Reading


December 07, 2017

US senator on North Korea: “Most Americans don’t realize how close we are to this war”

by Zack Beauchamp
Source: Vox

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a decorated veteran of the Iraq War, is scared - scared that the Trump administration may be getting the US into a devastating war with North Korea without much of the public noticing or seeming to care. "Most Americans," she says, "don't realize how close we are to this war." Duckworth, who lost both of her legs after her helicopter was shot down by insurgents, has closely followed both aggressive rhetoric from the White House and the way the US military has been … Continue Reading


November 17, 2017

Search for World War II medals reveals new honors

by Andy Kravetz

PEORIA - For years, Dan Welch wondered whatever came of his father's old medals from World War II. After his dad, Woodrow "Woody" Welch died in 1986, his mother found his old jacket at their home in Smithfield, a small village in Fulton County about an hour southwest of Peoria. The wool coat had been aggressively attacked by moths and, well, it was tossed into the trash. On that jacket was his father's coveted Combat Infantryman's Badge, which can only be earned by soldiers who were involved … Continue Reading


November 01, 2017

Senator to Donald Trump: Americans Deserve to Know the Costs of a North Korea Conflict

by Uri Friedman

This morning, Tammy Duckworth, a Democratic senator from Illinois, wrote Donald Trump to demand an accounting of what the president and his advisers mean when they talk, with growing urgency these days, of "military options" against North Korea and its nuclear-weapons program. "We must never allow the consequences of war to be hidden from Americans," she asserts in a letter obtained exclusively by The Atlantic. Duckworth, a retired lieutenant colonel, lost her legs in 2004 when Iraqi … Continue Reading


October 17, 2017

Congress wants to make Americans with disabilities second-class citizens again

by Senator Tammy Duckworth

On May 28, 1988, Lisa Carl went to her local movie theater, something millions of Americans can do with ease and comfort. Yet when Lisa tried to go into the theater, the manager refused her ticket, denying her entry because Lisa had cerebral palsy and used a wheelchair. When an advocate called the theater owner about the incident, the manager coldly stated, "I don't want her in here, and I don't have to let her in." Lisa later testified before Congress, "I was not crying on the outside, but I … Continue Reading


October 13, 2017

Duckworth: Ending ACA Subsidies Affect The Most Vulnerable

by Craig Dellimore
Source: WBBM

CHICAGO (CBS) - Illinois' junior U.S. Senator is among those highly critical of President Donald Trump's Executive Order ending federal payments to health insurance companies under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Senator Tammy Duckworth says President Trump's order ending the subsidies for health insurance marketplaces is going to push many people out of being able to afford the healthcare they need. "The subsidies help keep the cost low so that we could actually afford the … Continue Reading


October 04, 2017

How Trump's budget will make your commute worse

by Senator Tammy Duckworth

Every day, millions of Chicagoans rely on public transportation to commute to work, head to school, and attend concerts, festivals and baseball games. Whether they use the el, Metra, or a bus system, everyone benefits from the opportunity to efficiently and affordably crisscross the Chicago area and avoid the stresses of sitting in traffic and dealing with parking. Improving our country's second-busiest public transportation system is not a flashy political issue-and it's certainly not the … Continue Reading


September 27, 2017

Our Troops Need a New War Resolution From Congress

by Senator Tammy Duckworth

Most people would run away from gunfire, but our nation's servicemembers run towards it. They watch their brothers and sisters die. They've been tired, hungry, frustrated, broken down and pissed off. They miss holidays, anniversaries, births and funerals before coming home with the physical and emotional scars of war. They laugh and cry about it all - a gallows humor only those of us who have deployed can appreciate. Despite the toll, our men and women in uniform continue to deploy time and … Continue Reading


September 19, 2017

Tammy Duckworth's breastfeeding op-ed underscores need for women leaders

by Heidi Stevens

Today's lesson on the importance of representation is brought to you by Tammy Duckworth. The Democratic senator from Illinois wrote an op-ed for Cosmopolitan, published Monday, advocating for more lactation rooms in airports and outlining the bipartisan legislation she introduced recently to make that happen. (Yep, that Cosmopolitan. The magazine has included pointed political coverage alongside its sex and beauty advice since 2014, when editors added a political reporter and started … Continue Reading


September 18, 2017

Tammy Duckworth: Why Do We Expect Moms to Pump Milk for Their Children on a Toilet Seat?

by Senator Tammy Duckworth

Like many working moms, I knew that balancing my career with taking care of a young daughter would be a challenge, but I never imagined that airports would present one of my biggest obstacles. As a member of Congress when my daughter was born, I was traveling a lot for work. I flew back and forth between Illinois and Washington almost every week - and frequently, I would get to the airport with little time to spare. As a nursing mother, I had to stick to a feeding and expressing schedule, … Continue Reading


September 05, 2017

Sen. Duckworth presses HUD to get its story straight concerning Cairo relocation effort

by Molly Parker

CAIRO - U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth continues to push Housing and Urban Development officials to get their story straight concerning the relocation effort in Cairo. Duckworth, D-Ill., has said on numerous occasions that the lack of consistent information from HUD officials is both frustrating and confusing to residents and other concerned city leaders and federal officials. Ben Garmisa, a spokesman for Duckworth, said the senator's continued insistence for clarity on the nuts-and-bolts issues … Continue Reading


August 24, 2017

Duckworth on transgender ban: When I was dying it didn't matter who saved my life

by Josh Delk
Source: The Hill

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) on Thursday implored members of Congress to resist any effort by the White House to move forward with a proposed ban on transgender troops serving in the military, saying it didn't matter whether a soldier was "gay, straight, transgender, black, white or brown," and that such a measure would be "disruptive" and "counterproductive." "When I was bleeding to death in my Black Hawk helicopter after I was shot down, I didn't care if the American troops risking their … Continue Reading


August 11, 2017

'We Cannot Give In': Sen. Duckworth's Uniquely Personal Stand Against Trump

by Seamus Kirst
Source: VICE

My family has served this nation in uniform, going back to the Revolution. I'm a daughter of the American Revolution," then-Representative Tammy Duckworth explained in an October 2016 debate for the open Illinois Senate seat. "I've bled for this nation, but I still want to be there in the Senate when the drums of war sound. Because people are quick to sound the drums of war, and I want to be there to say, 'This is what it costs, this is what you're asking us to do.' Families like mine are the … Continue Reading

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