In The News
Ill. counties to receive $2.4M in FEMA reimbursement funding for flooding recovery
SOUTHERN Ill. (KFVS) - Some Illinois counties, including ones in southern Illinois, will receive millions of dollars in FEMA reimbursement funding for flooding recovery. The state was awarded a total of $2,414,009 in federal funding to offset costs related to the historic flooding from February 24 to July 3, 2019. It will go to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency. The money will reimburse them for emergency work … Continue Reading
August 25, 2020
Sen. Duckworth meets with Peoria leaders on long-awaited COVID funding
PEORIA (HOI) - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) met with Peoria's mayor and city manager Monday on what's next for the city, and their needs for federal funding. Duckworth said if she had it her way, help would be on the way. However, she says Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is halting the process. Duckworth said she's trying to get money in the next COVID package to go directly to cities and counties. "I'm fighting as hard as i can to make sure that there's money in … Continue Reading
August 24, 2020
Duckworth Working To Funnel More COVID-19 Relief To Local Governments
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth said she's working to get more financial relief for Illinois municipalities struggling to keep services going after COVID-19 took a big bite out of tax revenues. "We are going to fight as hard as we can to get money in there for the municipalities," she said in a Monday news briefing. "I have also been in contact with [the state Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity] to try to get some of the money that had been released for COVID relief to be passed along … Continue Reading
August 21, 2020
IL Sens Durbin, Duckworth Advocate For First-Class Postage For Ballots
Illinois Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth are advocating for all election mail to be sent first-class. The pair also wants to make sure there are sufficient resources to deal with greater mail volume ahead of Election Day. Durbin says Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has no background in the Postal Service so he didn't understand the fallout of changing the system. DeJoy is expected to testify before Congress today and Monday about his shakeup of the U.S. Postal Service ahead of Election … Continue Reading
August 20, 2020
Duckworth: Republicans gut Americans with Disabilities Act in coronavirus relief bill
I gathered my notes, took a sip of water and spoke out in the Senate chamber this month on behalf of the millions of Americans living with disabilities - and on behalf of the many more who, whether they know it or not, are just one bad day, one bad diagnosis, away from acquiring a disability as well. I went to the floor on their behalf, because I came to the floor by rolling through the Capitol's corridors in the wheelchair I'm writing this from. And I could come to the floor because 30 years … Continue Reading
August 14, 2020
Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama and Tammy Duckworth among inspiring Illinois Women of the Century
From the skyscrapers of Chicago to the open plains of the Prairie State, Illinois is famous for its rich diversity and Midwestern values. So it should come as no surprise that the state's most influential and inspiring women represent that same diversity, cultural richness and spirit of America's heartland. As the country commemorates the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the legal right to vote, the USA TODAY Network is identifying 10 women from each of the 50 … Continue Reading
August 13, 2020
Pompeo Says He and Military Warned Russia on Bounties for Killing U.S. Troops
WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he warned Russia against offering bounties for killing American and coalition troops in Afghanistan, even as President Trump has denigrated as a "hoax" a C.I.A. assessment that Russia carried out such a covert operation. Mr. Pompeo's remarks in an interview on Wednesday came as new details emerged about one aspect of evidence, involving Russian passport numbers, that led C.I.A. analysts to link the suspected bounty operation to the elite Unit … Continue Reading
August 11, 2020
Duckworth hosts virtual meeting with southern Illinois Mayors
WASHINGTON, D.C. (KFVS) - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth held a virtual meeting with eight mayors from the Southern Illinois Mayor's Association to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on their communities Tuesday. Duckworth and the local leaders also discussed what communities are looking for in a future federal relief package and how her office can help Southern Illinois with recovering from both the economic and health impacts of the pandemic. "Our local governments have been hit … Continue Reading
August 06, 2020
Senate Republicans ‘Have Declared War’ On The ADA, Says Duckworth
Never mind the ACA. Let's gut the ADA. Senate Republicans, unsuccessful (so far) in ridding the nation of the pesky Affordable Care Act, have decided to follow the alphabet one letter forward and are taking aim at another favorite conservative punching bag, the Americans with Disabilities Act. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, (D-Ill.) accused her Republican colleagues of "declaring war on the ADA." Seizing on the national crisis presented by the novel coronavirus and Covid-19 and focusing on protecting … Continue Reading
August 05, 2020
Duckworth: Republican coronavirus package would 'gut' Americans With Disabilities Act
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), the first disabled woman elected to the Senate, slammed Senate Republicans' coronavirus relief proposal in a floor speech Wednesday evening, saying it would "gut" the Americans with Disabilities Act. Duckworth invoked the "Capitol Crawl" by wheelchair users lobbying for the 1990 legislation, including eight-year-old Jennifer Keelan, who was heard to say "I'll take all night if I have to." "Thirty years ago this legislative body said people like me mattered, but … Continue Reading
August 05, 2020
Duckworth, Durbin Announce $7 Million In Federal Funds For Housing For Low-Income Illinoisans With Disabilities
WASHINGTON (CBS) - U.S. Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) on Wednesday announced $7 million in federal funding to create rental units for low-income Illinois residents with disabilities. The funding will go to the Illinois Housing Development Authority. It comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities program. "Expanding access to affordable housing is crucial to helping Illinoisans with … Continue Reading
July 31, 2020
Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s Big Idea: A Marshall Plan for Coal Country
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., wants to give struggling coal communities a jolt of new federal investment and help transition out-of-work miners into new jobs and cleaner energy production. Duckworth, considered a potential running mate for Joe Biden, introduced sweeping new legislation this month that gives Medicare coverage to laid-off coal workers, provides tuition-free college for coal workers and their families, calls for a $15 dollar minimum wage and modifies U.S. bankruptcy rules to … Continue Reading
July 31, 2020
Tammy Duckworth Wants to Know WTF Are We Supposed to Do With Our Kids During COVID?
Sen. Tammy Duckworth may be on Biden's VP shortlist. But when it comes to childcare during the pandemic, she's just as confused as the rest of us. "So my choice is five hours of homeschooling every day for my daughter and failing her, because I'm not a trained educator, or sending her to a school where she could very likely get this virus or bring it home and get her 2-year-old sister sick or my 79-year-old mom, who lives with us," Duckworth tells Molly Jong-Fast and Rick Wilson on the … Continue Reading
July 30, 2020
Tammy Duckworth Says She Won't Let President Trump 'Politicize Our Government'
U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth said on Thursday that she views President Donald Trump sending federal agents to confront protesters in U.S. cities as an "abuse of power" and does not want federal forces intervening at demonstrations in her home state of Illinois. "The abuse of power that we saw in Portland, that could happen anywhere should worry every single one of us," she said during a TIME 100 Talks discussion. "It's a continuation of the politicization of federal government that's being … Continue Reading
July 30, 2020
A Conversation with Sen. Tammy Duckworth
An Iraq War veteran, Purple Heart recipient and the current junior senator from Illinois, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D) is also on Joe Biden's purported vice-presidential shortlist. Washington Post Live hosted Duckworth in conversation with Washington Post national political reporter Robert Costa to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on her home state, how she views demonstrations for social justice across the country and her thoughts about the upcoming … Continue Reading
July 30, 2020
Harris, Booker, Duckworth Unveil Environmental Justice Measure
Democratic Sens. Kamala Harris (Calif.), Cory Booker (N.J.), and Tammy Duckworth (Ill.) rolled out an environmental justice bill on Thursday aimed at underserved communities and communities of color. The Environmental Justice for All Act would require permitting agencies to consider cumulative impacts under the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act and strengthen the National Environmental Policy Act to mandate "early and meaningful involvement in actions impacting communities," including tribes, … Continue Reading
July 29, 2020
Bill Would Mandate EPA Require Toxic Emissions Monitoring
A Democrat bill being introduced Wednesday would give the EPA up to four months to require monitoring of ethylene oxide and other cancer-causing toxic air pollutants at the fencelines of chemical manufacturing plants. The Public Health Air Quality Act of 2020, sponsored by Democrats Sen. Tammy Duckworth (Ill.) and Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (Del.), would require the Environmental Protection Agency to take immediate action to monitor toxic air pollutants at facilities they say are "contributing … Continue Reading
July 29, 2020
U.S. senators request EPA help to fix “urgent public health crisis” in Centreville
CENTREVILLE – U.S. Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin want the federal Environmental Protection Agency to help solve flooding and sewage issues in Centreville, where residents say their lives have been upended for decades due to failed infrastructure. The Illinois Democrats called the situation in Centreville an “urgent public health crisis” in a letter this week to EPA Region 5 Administrator Kurt Thiede. “Centreville is located adjacent to East St. Louis and … Continue Reading
July 29, 2020
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth Weighs In On Latest Stimulus Plans
Congress is currently deciding how much money should be spent in the next coronavirus stimulus package. Reset checks in with U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth to discuss ongoing negotiations, as well as her thoughts on Attorney General William Barr's recent congressional testimony. GUEST: U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth … Continue Reading
July 26, 2020
From Jobs to Voting Booths, Accessibility Should be the Default in America | Opinion
Three decades ago, a thousand activists crowded together in front of the Capitol Building in Washington, DC, demanding that Congress finally give Americans with disabilities the basic rights the Constitution promised. Dozens of them got out of their wheelchairs, set down their crutches and crawled up the 83 stone steps of the Capitol. Jennifer Keelan, an eight-year-old with cerebral palsy, pulled herself to the top of those steps, telling those around her: "I'll take all night if I have … Continue Reading
