In The News
Chicago Veterans Honored at City Hall, with help from Sen. Duckworth
Chicago honored veterans in a ceremony at City Hall Sunday, on the 100th anniversary of the unofficial end of World War One. Brigadier General Mark C Jackson said the Illinois National Guard has been activated several times over the years to help in not only that war, but wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan, as well as to aid with flooding at home in 1993. US Sen.Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran and Purple Heart recipient, said she doesn't think the country is that much better at taking … Continue Reading
November 11, 2018
I Owe My Life to the Warrior Ethos of My Fellow Troops
"I will always place the mission first. I will never accept defeat. I will never quit. I will never leave a fallen comrade." I can still recite the lines of the Warrior Ethos -- but I'm alive today because when it mattered most, when the stakes were highest and everything seemed to go wrong, my crew didn't just remember the Ethos. They embodied every word of it. I'm able to write this because 14 years ago tomorrow, my buddies refused to leave me behind when a [rocket-propelled grenade] tore … Continue Reading
November 02, 2018
Durbin, Duckworth, Foster want probe of Trump EPA response to Sterigenics cancer Risks
Both U.S. senators from Illinois and a Chicago-area congressman are calling for an independent investigation of the Trump administration's response to federal research that found the Sterigenics plant in west suburban Willowbrook is responsible for some of the nation's highest cancer risks from toxic air pollution. People living near the sterilization plant deserve to know more about why political appointees at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency delayed releasing the findings to the … Continue Reading
October 18, 2018
Senator Duckworth Educates Congress on Impacts of Military Decisions
When you walk into the office of Senator Tammy Duckworth, on display are symbols of the many roles she represents. To the right, the Soldier's Creed hangs above her desk just as it hung above her bed when she was recovering at Walter Reed. On the left side of the room sits a bassinet adorned with white and pink plush for the newest member of her family, baby Maile. The senator always knew she would serve her country in some way, but she thought it would be in a different capacity. She says … Continue Reading
October 18, 2018
The 50 Most Influential People in Health Care in 2018: Senator Tammy Duckworth
U.S. Senator Duckworth has long been an advocate of breastfeeding accommodations, including introducing legislation that requires all medium and large airports to offer a lactation room for mothers. But when the Illinois Democrat became the first Senator to give birth in office, this April, that activism was pushed to the next level as she fought to get long-standing congressional rules against allowing a child on the Senate floor overturned to allow her to nurse her newborn. Since then, … Continue Reading
October 17, 2018
Women and Power: Tammy Duckworth Says Damn Straight She Fights Like A Girl
Tammy Duckworth, senator from Illinois and Purple Heart-decorated Army helicopter pilot, is in the middle of a detailed rant about identity politics and discrimination, when she comes to a screeching halt. She blinks. She's blanked on a name. "God, he's my friend," she says, smacking her forehead. "I didn't get any sleep last night. I got in late from Illinois." Duckworth and her husband split their time between Chicago and D.C. "My older girl was watching My Little Pony on YouTube. Everything … Continue Reading
October 12, 2018
Nursing Rooms for Breastfeeding moms now required at all major airports
Nursing moms will soon find it easier to travel through airports across the country. Commercial airports will be required to provide lactation rooms at each passenger terminal building of the airport, thanks to the passage of the Friendly Airports for Mothers Act (FAM) of 2017. The act was included in the five-year reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration that president Trump signed on Oct. 5. Many airports already have such rooms, whether they're called a mother's room, … Continue Reading
October 11, 2018
Duckworth releases statement criticizing Sessions’ opposition of CPD reform
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) on Wednesday condemned Attorney General Jeff Sessions' announcement that he will oppose a decree to reform the Chicago Police Department. The decree followed a 200 page report by the Department of Justice, which investigated CPD after the shooting of Laquan McDonald in 2016. McDonald was shot by a white police officer, Jason Van Dyke, who was convicted of second-degree murder on Friday. In her statement, Duckworth criticized the Trump administration for … Continue Reading
September 27, 2018
Tammy Duckworth Intros Measure Aimed at Getting Lead Out of Public Housing
Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) this week introduced bipartisan legislation to protect families living in assisted housing from lead found in drinking water. More than 4 million children in the U.S. are living in environments with lead-based paint, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Lead exposure can have serious consequences for the health of children. At high levels of exposure, lead attacks the brain and central nervous system to cause coma, convulsions, and even … Continue Reading
September 20, 2018
Sen. Tammy Duckworth: How We Can End the Maternal Death Epidemic
My baby girl Maile made history the moment she was born, before she had even opened her eyes. When I gave birth to Maile this past April, I became the first U.S senator to have a child while serving in office. And when I carried her, onesie and all, into the chamber for a vote 10 days later, she became the first newborn ever allowed onto the Senate floor. But through my nine months of pregnancy-and my time in labor-I wasn't thinking about making history. I was thinking about staying … Continue Reading
September 12, 2018
Senator Tammy Duckworth on the Attack that Took Her Legs—and Having a Baby at 50
ILLINOIS SENATOR Ladda Tammy Duckworth owns a great pair of legs. They're painstakingly painted by an artist to match the skin tone of her arm-right down to the freckles-and the second toe on one foot is longer than the first, just like her own used to be. But Duckworth can't stand them. "When I see myself wearing those legs in a mirror, I see loss. But when I see this"-she gestures toward the steel-and-titanium prosthesis attached to her thigh above her right knee-"I see strength. I see a … Continue Reading
September 07, 2018
Duckworth: Kavanaugh is no friend to Midwestern farmers
Our farmers not only feed us, they also help power our nation through the production of biofuels and renewable energy. As someone who fought in uniform to defend this country, I've seen firsthand the price we pay for our dangerous dependence on foreign oil - and I'd rather burn American-grown corn and soybeans in my gas tank than oil from the Middle East. After all, biofuels help make us more energy secure, and in doing so, they make our nation stronger and help us maintain our … Continue Reading
September 05, 2018
Tammy Duckworth: Brett Kavanaugh Would Put Businesses Ahead of Americans With Disabilities on the Supreme Court
When I first woke up at Walter Reed in November 2004, I had no idea that I was disabled. I had no idea that, in the blink of an eye, I had lost both my legs when a grenade tore through the helicopter I was piloting just north of Baghdad. It took me days to recognize the reality of my disability, months to learn how to walk again and years to get used to the constant, hammering pain that's still there, even when I'm just sitting down. Despite it all, I consider myself pretty lucky - not only … Continue Reading
August 08, 2018
Tammy Duckworth to have open house at new Belleville office
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth has scheduled an open house on Thursday at her Belleville office, which opened in mid-July. The office is at 23 Public Square in the same building where U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, previously had an office. Bost eventually moved his area office to O'Fallon. "Reaching as many Illinoisans as possible and addressing their concerns is one of my top priorities as Senator, and making my team available in every corner of the state will help," Duckworth said. … Continue Reading
August 06, 2018
Duckworth fears migrant kids at shelter are hungry and scared
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth raised concerns about an organization that cares for migrant children separated from their parents Monday, saying she worried they were hungry and stressed. Heartland Alliance runs a number of shelters in the Chicago area, primarily for unaccompanied minors -- children who arrive in the U.S. from other countries without an adult. Heartland also looks after migrant children separated from their parents after crossing the border under a controversial government policy … Continue Reading
July 31, 2018
Illinois Dems blast Trump for not reunifying all migrant kids by deadline
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and three Illinois congressmen lambasted the Trump administration Friday for failing to reunify the more than 2,000 children separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border as part of its "zero tolerance" enforcement policy by Thursday's court-mandated deadline. As of Thursday, the government had successfully reunified 1,442 children with their relatives. But 711 children separated from their parents or other family members are still in government … Continue Reading
July 19, 2018
She's back: Sen. Tammy Duckworth on breast-feeding (probably not on the Senate floor) and her work-life balance
Even before she returned from maternity leave, Tammy Duckworth, the first woman to give birth while serving in the U.S. Senate, pushed a resolution that allows infants on the Senate floor. The measure, which passed, means she and other new-parent senators won't have to miss a vote. Weeks after returning to her day job, the Illinois Democrat said she has no intention right now of breast-feeding on the Senate floor. But if she ever gets into a situation where she has to, she will. "My … Continue Reading
July 16, 2018
Senator Tammy Duckworth Doesn't Want Her Daughter's Birth to Be News Anymore
Senator Tammy Duckworth is used to breaking barriers. An Iraq War veteran who chose to serve as a helicopter pilot because it was one of few combat jobs open to women, she was the first female double amputee from the conflict, after her legs had to be amputated when a helicopter she was copiloting was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. Duckworth went on to become the first disabled woman elected to Congress, in 2012. (She's also the first Asian-American woman elected to Congress from Illinois … Continue Reading
July 12, 2018
Duckworth: Kavanaugh puts Roe v Wade in Peril
(WASHINGTON, DC) Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth joined a press conference with other Democratic women of the senate to oppose Trump's supreme court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh. Duckworth brought her infant Maile to the Capitol Hill presser, "Well, she's why I'm here! If Roe v Wade were overturned, the protections provided by Roe v Wade against things like person-hood amendments, person-hood bills, would actually disappear. You see, if a fertilized egg is a person, you run into all sorts … Continue Reading
July 04, 2018
Duckworth Helps Introduce Legislation to Decriminalize Marijuana at Federal Level
U.S Senator Tammy Duckworth joined Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders, and Tim Kaine by introducing new legislation to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level. The Marijuana Freedom and Opportunity Act would allow states to continue to decide how they will treat marijuana possession by removing marijuana from the list of scheduled substances under the Controlled Substances Act. The Federal Government will still have the ability to prevent trafficking … Continue Reading
