In The News
IVF would be covered for federal employees under proposed bipartisan bill
One in every eight couples face challenges while conceiving, according to survey data from Resolve, the National Fertility Association. With more than 9 million people eligible, the Federal Employees Health Benefit (FEHB) Program, administered by the government, is the largest employer-sponsored health insurance program in the world. Yet, there is not a single FEHB carrier that offers a nationwide plan covering assisted reproductive technology, which includes all fertility treatments in which … Continue Reading
April 12, 2023
How Chicago Landed the 2024 Democratic National Convention
It's an event nearly 30 years in the making: After hosting the Democratic National Convention in 1996, the event will return to the city of Chicago in 2024, officials on Tuesday confirmed. "The DNC is returning to the Midwest," a news release from the Democratic National Committee read. "A critical Democratic stronghold: Illinois along with Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota - part of the "blue wall" - were crucial to the 2020 victory of President Biden and Vice President Harris and to … Continue Reading
April 10, 2023
Long Covid Help Gets Funding Push From Biden HHS, Lawmakers
Hundreds of millions of dollars would go toward efforts to diagnose and treat people suffering long-term Covid symptoms under funding plans put forth by the Biden administration and lawmakers. The proposals would aid Americans still struggling with fatigue, brain fog, and other ailments of long Covid, and come as the health system prepares to exit the pandemic state. Health and policy experts say long Covid is still a daily burden for an estimated 10 million to 35 million working-age adults, … Continue Reading
April 05, 2023
'Historic' $6.5 Billion funding for Drinking Water Infrastructure Upgrades Across the Country
Tuesday in Rockford, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan announced $6.5 billion in funding for drinking water infrastructure upgrades throughout the country. The spending represents the largest federal investment in water infrastructure in the nation's history. The money will be available to states, Tribes and territories. Regan says $3 billion is dedicated to lead service line replacement across the U.S. "Getting the lead out of drinking water is a top priority … Continue Reading
April 04, 2023
Japan to increase access to U.S. ethanol
A rule proposed by the Japanese government could open the gate for more imports of American ethanol, according to U.S. officials. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on March 30 released proposed language related to its Act on Sophisticated Methods of Energy Supply Structures that calls for improving the carbon-intensity score of corn ethanol produced in the U.S. If approved, the rule would remain in place through 2028 and largely allow the U.S. ethanol industry to fully access … Continue Reading
April 04, 2023
U.S. EPA, Congressional Leaders Visit Rockford To Announce Funding For Drinking Water Improvements
ROCKFORD - The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and congressional leaders stopped in the city Tuesday to announce more than $332 million in funding to improve water infrastructure in Illinois and ensure access to safe drinking water. That funding, in part, will help replace lead service lines to prevent the toxic metal from filtering into the water system. When consumed in large quantities, lead can cause kidney and cardiovascular issues and otherwise harm the nervous system. … Continue Reading
March 31, 2023
Duckworth introduces bill to build out ‘imperative’ tech skills in military
WASHINGTON - A new bill introduced by a key lawmaker on the Senate Armed Services Committee aims to build out the Defense Department's "human capital infrastructure" in tech and cyber operations by formalizing how the military organizes and takes advantage of service members' technical skills, from coding to artificial intelligence. "Absent strategy implementation and investment, the Department of Defense and each of the military departments currently lack the human capital infrastructure to … Continue Reading
March 30, 2023
Sen. Duckworth secures $750K for Sesser sewer improvements
Sesser is getting $750,000 from the U.S Environmental Protection Agency to help the community rehabilitate its aging sanitary sewer system. The funds were secured by Sen. Tammy Duckworth as part of Congressionally Directed Spending funding allocations within the federal infrastructure bill. Mayor Jason Ashmore said he expects to receive the funds in the coming weeks and added that his goal is to have the project completed by the end of the year. He said the project will allow the … Continue Reading
March 27, 2023
Tammy Duckworth is asking the FTC to investigate a pharmaceutical wholesaler over its abortion pill plans.
What's happening: Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) is asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate reports that the pharmaceutical wholesaler AmerisourceBergen will not be distributing abortion pills in more than two dozen states. The move comes after POLITICO reported that the company - the sole U.S. supplier of the abortion pill mifeprex - told senators they would not supply pharmacies with the drug in 29 states, including some, like Nevada, where abortion and the medication are … Continue Reading
March 26, 2023
Crenshaw, Duckworth look back on military service in Iraq on war’s 20th anniversary
Rep. Dan Crenshaw and Sen. Tammy Duckworth are reflecting on their past military service in Iraq on the 20th anniversary of the U.S. invasion there. Both lawmakers recently sat down with ABC "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz for a segment that aired Sunday, looking back at the fighting and what they've learned. Crenshaw, who lost an eye serving in Afghanistan but had previously deployed to Iraq, and Duckworth, a former helicopter pilot who lost both of her legs when her aircraft was hit … Continue Reading
March 25, 2023
‘A horrible vote’: Congress revisits one of its gravest mistakes, the Iraq War
In 2002, while working at Rotary International, now-Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) watched congressional hearings and administration presentations making the argument for the Iraq War, never convinced that Saddam Hussein's forces posed a serious threat. But two years later, she joined her unit from the Illinois Army National Guard during its tour of duty, becoming one of the first few women to pilot combat missions in Iraq. In 2004, a rocket-propelled grenade hit her Black Hawk helicopter. … Continue Reading
March 22, 2023
Duckworth fears for an East Palestine-like freight derailment in Chicago
Sen. Tammy Duckworth on Wednesday expressed concerns that Illinois was at risk of being the next locale of a dangerous freight rail accident like the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern train derailment and chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio. "Illinois sits at the center of our nation's freight rail network," the Illinois Democrat said during the nearly five-hour hearing of the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee examining the East Palestine incident. "All seven Class 1 … Continue Reading
March 20, 2023
Marking 20 years since the U.S. invasion of Iraq
It's been 20 years since the start of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. More than 4,400 U.S. service members and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians were killed during the conflict. That's according to the Department of Defense and Brown University's Cost of War Project. Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth was deployed to Iraq in 2004 as a member of the Illinois Army National Guard. She was a Blackhawk helicopter pilot. And in November of that year, she lost both her legs and partial use of … Continue Reading
March 16, 2023
The cost of war: Senator Tammy Duckworth on what we owe Veterans
The true cost of war is a lot more than tanks, helicopters, and ammunition, according to US Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), who joins GZERO World to reflect on the 20th anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq. Duckworth was a helicopter pilot who lost both her legs in Iraq, one of thousands of veterans who returned home wounded, and intimately understands that the costs of war go far beyond the conflict ending. Is the United States fulfilling its obligation to provide adequate services for … Continue Reading
February 28, 2023
Tammy Duckworth Moves (Again) to Prevent a Repeat of Racist World War II-Era Imprisonment
en. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, a combat veteran, is now working to defuse an IED that's been sitting in constitutional law since the beginning of World War II. From the senator's office: U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today re-introduced the Korematsu-Takai Civil Liberties Protection Act, a bill that would establish a clear legal prohibition against un-American policies that seek to imprison individuals solely on the basis of race, religion, nationality, sex, gender identity, sexual … Continue Reading
February 28, 2023
Bill would designate church that held Emmett Till’s funeral as national monument
Nearly 70 years ago, Mamie Till-Mobley held an open casket funeral for her son, Emmett Till, at a church on the South Side of Chicago. The sight of his 14-year-old body, bloated and disfigured, reignited a civil rights movement. Now, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) has introduced legislation to designate the Roberts Temple Church where Till's funeral was held as a national monument. Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Corey Booker (D-N.J.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) joined … Continue Reading
February 24, 2023
Durbin, Duckworth lead call to pause railroad merger after Ohio derailment
Four members from Illinois' congressional caucus - Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth and U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Schaumburg) and Delia Ramirez (D-Chicago) - are asking for a delay in a planned merger between Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern freight railroads in the wake of the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern derailment in Ohio. In a letter addressed to Surface Transportation Board Chairman Martin Oberman - who also was alderman of Chicago's 43rd Ward from 1975 … Continue Reading
February 17, 2023
Sen. Duckworth to lead delegation to Indonesia, Japan
SPRINGFIELD - While on a congressional trip to South Korea last summer, Sen. Tammy Duckworth was drinking coffee with a vice president at LG Corp when she made an offhand remark that had more impact than she could have known at the time. The remark, about the geology that makes Illinois uniquely positioned for carbon sequestration, ended up being the catalyst for sparking a larger conversation that culminated months later with LG announcing a partnership with Archer Daniels Midland Co. … Continue Reading
February 16, 2023
Push to Help More Service Members In Need Get Food Stamps Revived by Senators
A bipartisan pair of senators is trying to help get service members access to federal food assistance as hundreds of thousands of low-income troops struggle with food insecurity and a military stipend to address the issue appears to have fallen short. Sens. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, are reintroducing their Military Family Nutrition Access Act, which would exclude the military's Basic Allowance for Housing from income calculations used to determine eligibility for … Continue Reading
February 15, 2023
New Bill Aims to Boost Airline Accessibility For Amputees
December was a frustrating month for airline passengers. But every month is frustrating for passengers who are flying with disabilities. The indignities include damaged wheelchairs, inaccessible lavatories, rude gate agents, and even physical injuries-up to and including death. The latter occurred in late 2021, when prominent disability advocate Engracia Figueroa (a lower-limb amputee) suffered a fatal health decline after the destruction of her $30,000 wheelchair on a United Airlines flight. … Continue Reading
