In The News
How Tammy Duckworth's experience with breastfeeding and IVF guides her policy
Hours before President Trump revealed his positive COVID-19 test, Congress sent a bill to his desk: the Friendly Airports for Mothers Improvement Act. The legislation, championed by Sen. Tammy Duckworth, requires that nearly all U.S. airports include lactation rooms for nursing-and traveling-mothers. Duckworth first introduced a bill on this topic in 2015; it was signed into law two years ago, but applied only to medium and large airports. The new act would extend the same regulations to … Continue Reading
October 05, 2020
Duckworth warns Amy Coney Barrett confirmation could put IVF procedures at 'high risk'
Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth urged her Republican colleagues to reconsider their support for President Trump's Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett, citing the judge's past support of a group opposed to in vitro fertilization and her own experience with the treatment in conceiving her daughters. Duckworth, D-Ill., in an exclusive interview with Fox News, warned that a confirmation of Barrett to the high court puts IVF procedures "very much at risk," after a report last week … Continue Reading
October 02, 2020
A Senator Wrote An Impassioned Letter To Her Colleagues About Her IVF Treatment And Trump's Supreme Court Nominee
Following reports that Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, supported an anti-abortion group that opposes in vitro fertilization, Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois wrote an impassioned letter to her colleagues Friday, citing her own experience with IVF and the conception of her 2-year-old daughter, Maile. "I write to each of you today, and especially to my Republican colleagues who cooed and cuddled Maile when she first visited the Capitol, in the hope that you … Continue Reading
October 02, 2020
Citing fears about I.V.F., Tammy Duckworth urges Senate not to confirm Judge Barrett
Senator Tammy Duckworth, Democrat of Illinois, raised concerns about Judge Amy Coney Barrett's views on in vitro fertilization on Friday and urged the Senate not to confirm her. Ms. Duckworth's two daughters were conceived using in vitro fertilization, or I.V.F., and her youngest became the first infant to appear on the Senate floor in 2018. In her letter, Ms. Duckworth said she felt "dread and anguish" when she learned that Judge Barrett "likely doesn't believe my little Maile and my … Continue Reading
September 26, 2020
Duckworth to vote ‘no’ on Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination while Durbin says he doesn’t know if she’s qualified
Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth on Saturday said she would vote against Amy Coney Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court, while Sen. Dick Durbin said he didn't know if she was qualified. In a statement as President Donald Trump announced the South Bend, Indiana, judge's nomination during a White House Rose Garden ceremony, Duckworth lashed out at majority Senate Republicans for pushing Barrett's nomination so close to the election. "Instead of addressing the many life-and-death … Continue Reading
September 25, 2020
Sen. Tammy Duckworth: “Ginsburg Changed This Nation—and My Own Life—Time and Again”
Our democracy may have been founded in the 18th century-but it wasn't fully built when the ink dried on the Declaration of Independence. It was forged and formed not just by those whose faces loom large on Mount Rushmore, but by someone who was often the smallest, quietest person in nearly every room she ever walked into. A five-foot-one-inch giant, Ruth Bader Ginsburg changed this nation-and my own life-time and again, seeing no challenge too big and finding no cause too small to fight for. … Continue Reading
September 23, 2020
Sen. Tammy Duckworth Introduces Bill to Ban Camouflage for Federal Agents
Illinois Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth introduced legislation on Wednesday to prevent federal agents in the U.S. from wearing camouflage uniforms. During violent protests against racism in some U.S. cities, federal agents who were sent to the demonstrations by the White House were spotted wearing camo. Some observers mistakenly identified those agents as members of the military. In July, the Pentagon expressed concern about the similarity between the uniform styles. Duckworth's proposal, … Continue Reading
September 23, 2020
Sen. Duckworth introduces bill to ban federal law enforcement from wearing camouflage
WASHINGTON - Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., introduced a bill Wednesday that would ban the use of camouflage uniforms by federal law enforcement following criticism during the summer that federal agents assigned to control racial protests looked like National Guard troops. "The Trump administration's decision to deploy federal law enforcement officers outfitted in camouflage uniforms in response to those protesting the death of George Floyd and other Black Americans blurred the lines between … Continue Reading
September 22, 2020
New policies now in place for military children seeking US citizenship
WASHINGTON - Military children who are not U.S. citizens and live overseas with their American parents are finally able to obtain citizenship automatically now that a new law is being implemented by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which had changed the policy last year. USCIS announced Friday that it had updated its policy to implement the Citizenship for Children of Military Members and Civil Servants Act, almost a year after the agency had changed how it determined the residency … Continue Reading
September 22, 2020
Automatic citizenship has been restored for some troops’ children born abroad
Last year, a federal policy update put citizenship in jeopardy for a handful of military children born abroad every year. Lawmakers decried the move and worked up legislation to fix the issue, and as of September, part of the policy has been rescinded. The Citizenship for Children of Military Members and Civil Servants Act, passed by Congress in March and first implemented this month, requires U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to recognize automatic citizenship once again for children … Continue Reading
September 21, 2020
Duckworth pushing for sanctions on anyone tied to bounties on American forces
Senator Tammy Duckworth is very outspoken about the reports Russians are paying bounties in the Middle East for killing American forces in Afghanistan. She pushed for an investigation. Now she introduced legislation. This is the second part of our conversation on this week's 4 The Record. Anyone who follows you knows you are very passionate about the military. You're among a group of senators who introduced legislation last week in response to concerns that Russia is putting bounties on … Continue Reading
September 19, 2020
No, We Weren’t ‘Suckers’ or ‘Losers’
If Donald Trump had been on the battlefield with me in Iraq back in November 2004, I doubt I ever would've made it home. In the Army, part of our soldier's creed involves never leaving a fallen comrade behind. The only reason I am alive today is that, after a rocket-propelled grenade exploded in the Black Hawk helicopter I was co-piloting, my buddies embodied that creed. They thought I was dead but still risked their own safety to bring my body back home to my family. Only when they got me to … Continue Reading
September 18, 2020
Watchdog To Review Nonlethal Tactics Against Protesters, Including 'Heat Ray' Request
The Government Accountability Office is investigating the Pentagon's interest in deploying a "heat ray" to control crowds around the White House, part of a broader review of the tactics and use of nonlethal weapons that have been leveled against social justice protesters this summer, NPR has learned. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., requested the independent review in early June, just days after federal police cleared peaceful protesters from Lafayette Square, outside the White House, with tear … Continue Reading
September 17, 2020
"The Revolution is Not Glam" (with Sen. Tammy Duckworth)
In This Episode This week Erin Ryan and Alyssa Mastromonaco talk to Senator Tammy Duckworth about the military's sexual harassment response program and Trump's non-stop shit talk of our troops. Then, Erin and Alyssa unpack the disturbing news from ICE detention camps, and check-in on the state of the suburbs. Next, Michaela Watkins and Naomi Ekperigin join to work out our complicated feelings as we approach the apocalypse. Are we ok? Should we be? Finally, who's got a plan to haunt Trump … Continue Reading
September 10, 2020
Duckworth on Trump Downplaying COVID-19 Pandemic: I’m ‘Just Furious’
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) slammed President Donald Trump over the incriminating audio released by journalist Bob Woodward. On Thursday, the former combat veteran appeared on MSNBC with Andrea Mitchell where she was asked about Trump's admission to downplaying the coronavirus. Duckworth said that Trump's actions are infuriating. "Just furious," Duckworth said. "I cannot believe that any president of the United States would do this." She continued, "And for him to have been out there … Continue Reading
September 10, 2020
U.S. Democrats demand Trump response to reported Russian bounties
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. senators introduced a bill on Thursday that would require President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on any Russian involved in the alleged payment of bounties to militants for killing U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan. The legislation would require Trump to certify whether the Russian government offered, ordered or was responsible for bounties for killing U.S. and allied forces. If his administration found that Moscow did so, the measure would … Continue Reading
September 01, 2020
The Personal and the Political: The Transformational Politics of Sen. Tammy Duckworth
In 2004, when US Army Captain Tammy Duckworth, now a senator from Illinois, woke up at Walter Reed Army Medical Center after the Black Hawk helicopter she was co-piloting was shot down in Iraq, she found herself in unrelenting, all-consuming pain. She remembers realizing that she was suddenly mission-less—a helicopter pilot with no legs. Duckworth grew up in Southeast Asia while her father, an Army and Marine Corps veteran who served in World War II and the Vietnam War, worked for the … Continue Reading
August 31, 2020
Congressional watchdog to review Army’s sexual harassment and assault prevention program
The Government Accountability Office accepted a request from Army veteran Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., to conduct an independent review of the Army's Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention, or SHARP, program, Duckworth's office announced Friday. A full scope and timeline for the GAO review wasn't released. But in her initial request in July, Duckworth asked that the GAO to design a survey to obtain soldiers' views on the SHARP program's effectiveness and shortcomings, as evaluated … Continue Reading
August 31, 2020
More than $11M will go to support Ill. health centers
ILLINOIS (KFVS) - The state of Illinois will receive $11.5 million in federal grants to support 44 Community Health Centers. The following Illinois health centers will receive funding: Access Community Health Network (Chicago): $367,750 Alivio Medical Center (Chicago): $222,701 Asian Human Services Family Health Center, Inc. (Chicago): $220,250 Aunt Martha's Health & Wellness, Inc. (Olympia Fields): $470,481 Cass County Health Department (Virginia): … Continue Reading
August 28, 2020
GAO agrees to review Army's sexual harassment program
The Government Accountability Office on Wednesday accepted a request from Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., to review the Army's sexual harassment response program in the wake of the disappearance and death of Spc. Vanessa Guillen, the senator's office announced Friday. The review will look at the implementation and effectiveness of the Army's Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention program, known as SHARP, after Guillen's family said the soldier had experienced sexual harassment on … Continue Reading
