September 20, 2023

Duckworth Awarded For Commitment to Advocating For Military Families

 

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Today, combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) was honored by the National Military Family Association for her continued commitment to military families. Duckworth, a member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, in her remarks emphasized that just as our servicemembers keep our country strong, their families do too. Photos from the event can be found here.

“Let us never forget that every time servicemembers pack their rucksacks and lace up their boots, ready to begin yet another deployment, their loved ones have to prepare themselves for battle as well,” said Duckworth. “While we will never be able to fully repay the debt we owe our military families for all they’ve done for the rest of us, we can start by tackling the very obvious, very solvable problems that they face every day—such as addressing military hunger and expanding access to paid military parental leave for all servicemembers.”

Senator Duckworth has been a long-time advocate for military families, including leading the charge to help address military hunger, increase paid military parental leave and expand Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) care for servicemembers. Earlier this year, she reintroduced her bipartisan Military Family Nutrition Access Act, which would support active-duty military families experiencing food insecurity by excluding Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH)—a subset of military compensation intended to cover the costs of off-base housing— from income calculations used to determine Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) eligibility. Last week, Duckworth also helped reintroduce legislation to expand fertility treatments and family-building services for servicemembers and Veterans.

Additionally, as recently as yesterday, Duckworth has repeatedly called for U.S. Senator Tuberville (R-AL) to end his months-long blanket hold on military promotions, which hurts our military, their families and our national security.

- 30 -