Press Releases
Duckworth Leads Colleagues in Condemning Trump and Hegseth’s Trans Military Service Ban
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - Today, combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—a member of both the U.S. Senate Armed Services (SASC) and Veterans’ Affairs (SVAC) Committees—led 13 of her fellow Senate Democratic colleagues in condemning President Trump’s un-American, unconstitutional transgender military service ban for being a blatant violation of our brave servicemembers’ civil rights and weakening our national security. The lawmakers demanded answers from Secretary of Defense Pete … Continue Reading
April 21, 2025
Duckworth Statement on the Passing of Pope Francis
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today issued the following statement honoring the passing of Pope Francis: “Pope Francis was a pillar of the Catholic Church, a beacon of hope, compassion and light in times of fear, hatred and darkness. Throughout his life, he taught us that in order to be great, we have to be good. He urged each of us to care for the poor, feed the hungry, be humble stewards of the Earth and treat others how we would want to be treated ourselves—even … Continue Reading
April 20, 2025
Duckworth: Our Troops’ Lives Are Endangered Every Day Pete Hegseth Remains in His Job
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - Combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—a member of both the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC)—issued the following statement after new reporting revealed that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth leaked highly-sensitive attack details in yet another unclassified Signal chat, this time to his wife and brother, putting the lives of our men and women in uniform at greater risk: “How many times does Pete … Continue Reading
April 20, 2025
Duckworth: Our Troops’ Lives Are Endangered Every Day Pete Hegseth Remains in His Job
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - Combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—a member of both the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC)—issued the following statement after new reporting revealed that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth leaked highly-sensitive attack details in yet another unclassified Signal chat, this time to his wife and brother, putting the lives of our men and women in uniform at greater risk: “How many times does Pete … Continue Reading
April 11, 2025
Duckworth, Murkowski, Houlahan, Bacon Renew Bipartisan, Bicameral Push to Give Public Health Crisis Responders Essential Leave Benefits Enjoyed by All Other Uniformed Services
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - Today, combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—a member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC)—U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and U.S. Representatives Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA-06) and Don Bacon (R-NE-02) reintroduced bipartisan, bicameral legislation that would help expand leave benefits for the millions of devoted health professionals serving in the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) Commissioned Corps. Despite being responsible for leading our … Continue Reading
April 11, 2025
Duckworth Joins Cramer, Klobuchar, Colleagues in Introducing Bipartisan Legislation to Make Adoption Tax Credit Refundable
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) this week joined U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and 15 Senate colleagues in introducing bipartisan legislation to help ease the financial cost of adoption and support prospective and adoptive families. The Adoption Tax Credit Refundability Act restores the refundable portion of the Adoption Tax Credit. By allowing the tax credit to be refundable, families will be able to access the full amount as a refund, even … Continue Reading
April 11, 2025
Duckworth, Durbin Join Introduction of Legislation to Increase Value of Tax Credits that Help Working Class Americans
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined their Senate colleagues to introduce two bills, the American Family Act and the Tax Cut for Workers Act, aimed at expanding tax credits for American families. “When Democrats expanded the Child Tax Credit in the American Rescue Plan, we lifted millions of children out of poverty with the stroke of a pen, bringing child poverty rates to the lowest recorded levels in our … Continue Reading
April 11, 2025
As Trump’s Trade War Bludgeons US Economy, Duckworth, Durbin, Democratic Senators Slam Administration for Defunding Network of Centers That Boost American Manufacturing
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and 11 of their Senate Democratic colleagues in a letter to Trump’s Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, demanding answers regarding the Administration’s decision to cancel funding for 10 National Institute of Standards and Technology Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Centers across the country. The action … Continue Reading
April 11, 2025
Duckworth, Durbin Lead Illinois Democratic Delegation in Message to Secretary Kennedy: The Dismantling of HS Does Nothing to 'Make America Healthy Again'
[SPRINGFIELD, IL] - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today led the Illinois Democratic Delegation in sending a letter to U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. expressing frustration and concern that HHS has slashed critical federal funding for the state’s public health programs and infrastructure. “We write to express our real concern about the Department and Health and Human Services’ (HHS) actions to … Continue Reading
April 10, 2025
Duckworth Pushes for More Cooperation with Indo-Pacific Partners on Medical Readiness and Strategic Sealift to Support Servicemembers Abroad
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - Today, combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—a member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC)—urged Commander of the United States Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) Admiral Samuel J. Paparo Jr. and Commander of the United States Forces Korea (USFK) General Brunson to build on their efforts to expand cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners by further implementing her Indo-Pacific Medical Readiness Program and strengthening our sealift fleet, which … Continue Reading
April 10, 2025
Duckworth, Klobuchar, Capito, Colleagues Press FAA on Recent System Outages
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation (CST) and Ranking Member of the CST Aviation Subcommittee—joined U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Jerry Moran (R-KS), along with U.S. Representatives Pete Stauber (R-MN-08) and Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA-10), in pressing Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Acting Administrator Chris Rocheleau on the recent Notice to Airmen … Continue Reading
April 10, 2025
Duckworth Meets with Quad City Chamber and Knox County Area Partnership for Economic Development to Discuss Impact of Trump’s Tariffs on Local Workers
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today met with members of the Quad City Chamber and the Knox County Area Partnership for Economic Development (KCAP) to discuss the harmful impacts Trump’s chaotic trade and other actions are having on the local economy and workers—including the whiplash surrounding his sweeping tariffs, illegal pauses in federal funding and needless trade wars. Duckworth also spoke about how Trump’s blanket tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China negatively … Continue Reading
April 10, 2025
Duckworth, Durbin Join Introduction of Legislation to Increase Value of Tax Credits that Help Working Class Americans
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined their Senate colleagues to introduce two bills, the American Family Act and the Tax Cut for Workers Act, aimed at expanding tax credits for American families. “When Democrats expanded the Child Tax Credit in the American Rescue Plan, we lifted millions of children out of poverty with the stroke of a pen, bringing child poverty rates to the lowest recorded levels in our … Continue Reading
April 09, 2025
Senate Republicans Block Duckworth, Blumenthal and Sanders’ Resolutions to Condemn Trump-Musk Attacks on Veterans
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - Today, combat Veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—a member of the U.S. Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee (SVAC)—SVAC Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and former SVAC Chair Bernie Sanders (I-VT) called for unanimous consent on the Senate Floor to pass three resolutions that would condemn the Trump Administration’s egregious cuts and firings targeting the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Veterans across the federal government. Senate Republicans … Continue Reading
April 09, 2025
Duckworth, Durbin Join Hirono in Introducing Legislation to Strengthen Rights of Public Sector Workers to Join Unions, Bargain Collectively
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined U.S. Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI) in reintroducing the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, bicameral legislation to guarantee the right of public sector employees to organize, act concertedly and bargain collectively in states that currently do not afford these basic protections. This comes at a critical time, after President Trump’s recent executive order ended collective … Continue Reading
April 09, 2025
Duckworth, Van Hollen, Shaheen, SFRC Democrats to Rubio: Plan for USAID Illegal, Unconstitutional; Broader Restructuring Threatens National Security
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC)—joined her fellow Democratic SFRC colleagues, including U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), in sending a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio regarding the State Department’s recently announced plans to restructure the Department and fold USAID into the Department of State. In their letter, the SFRC Democrats emphasize that the State … Continue Reading
April 09, 2025
Duckworth, Durbin Join Colleagues in Demanding HHS Restore Title X Family Planning Funding Immediately to Protect Health Care Services for Millions
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - Today, U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined U.S. Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) and other Senate Democratic colleagues in urging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to immediately reinstate Title X family planning funding in 23 states after the agency began withholding grants that support basic health care for approximately one million people. “We are alarmed at … Continue Reading
April 09, 2025
Duckworth on Tariff Pause: Trump Can’t Erase Damage He’s Already Done to Middle-Class Families
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth issued the following statement after President Donald Trump—a failed and bankrupt businessman—announced he is pausing most of his tariffs, except for tariffs on China, for 90 days: “Let’s call this what it is: Donald Trump is caving on his signature tariffs—just hours after they went into effect—after his billionaire tax cheat friends finally broke through to him about the devastating impacts these tariffs were having on our economy, … Continue Reading
April 09, 2025
In Meeting with Chicago Head Start Provider, Duckworth Underscores How Trump and Elon Musk are Exploding Costs for Illinois Children and Families
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today met with leadership from Chicago Commons Association, Chicago’s second-largest Early Head Start and Head Start provider to discuss how recent cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will massively increase the cost of living for hardworking Illinois families, while harming the development of children. After unleashing Elon Musk—an unelected, unaccountable and unstable billionaire—to dismantle investments that help … Continue Reading
April 09, 2025
Duckworth Joins Durbin, Midwest Colleagues to Demand Answers on Closure of Chicago Head Start Office
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senators Gary Peters (D-MI), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Tina Smith (D-MN) today in sending a letter to U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. demanding answers about the closure of five regional Head Start offices across the country, including the Region 5 office in Chicago. The Region 5 office serves Head … Continue Reading