In The News
Tammy Duckworth: The mother making history in the US Senate
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
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
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
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
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”
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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?
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
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
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
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
August 08, 2017
Purple Heart Vet ‘Incredulous’ Her Senate Colleagues Approved Trump Nominee Who Authored ‘Torture Memos’
WASHINGTON ? When Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) thinks about one of the authors of the Bush-era "torture memos" joining the Trump administration, her mind goes back to when she was flying missions to Abu Ghraib prison at the time that photos emerged of U.S. military personnel torturing prisoners. "When those pictures came out, pretty much almost universal reaction among my fellow soldiers and myself was utter disgust," Duckworth said in an interview with HuffPost. "Our reaction, and pardon my … Continue Reading
August 03, 2017
Sen. Tammy Duckworth Introduced Legislation To Stop The US From Deporting Veterans
Sen. Tammy Duckworth on Thursday introduced a suite of new legislative proposals barring deportation of military veterans convicted of nonviolent offenses, and requiring naturalization offices at all military training sites to ensure noncitizen soldiers can gain citizenship. The Illinois Democrat's bills, which are similar to legislation being proposed by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in the House, would also let deported veterans convicted of nonviolent offenses reenter the country to … Continue Reading
July 31, 2017
Senators seek tougher law for foreign gov’t lobbyists
Washington - A group of Democratic senators is introducing legislation to crack down on lobbyists who fail to disclose their work on behalf of foreign governments. The legislation being introduced Monday would ensure the Justice Department has the authority to impose civil financial penalties on lobbyists who fail to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. The bill is being introduced by Illinois senators Tammy Duckworth and Richard Durbin and Sen. Richard Blumenthal of … Continue Reading