In The News
Aurora woman’s ‘chilling’ flight results in new FAA bill provision
Sitting on the floor of a tiny airplane lavatory, stomach cramping and laboring to breathe, Alexa Jordan, flying home to Aurora from Boston her freshman year at Harvard, had one major thought racing through her mind that May evening in 2019: There needs to be a law so what she was going through would never happen to anyone else. Thanks to Jordan’s tenacity and legislative partnership with Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, on May 15 - exactly five years to the day Jordan said she went into … Continue Reading
May 23, 2024
Today, ‘disability justice is reproductive justice’ — but that hasn’t always been the case
Historically, the disability and reproductive rights movements have operated separately, “just ignoring each other,” as one advocate put it, as they pursued aims that at times felt contradictory: While one movement fought for full abortion access, the other sought for people to stop ending pregnancies where disabilities were detected. A new House resolution announced Thursday by Rep. Ayanna Pressley highlights shifts in the movements’ relationship accelerated by the end of federal abortion … Continue Reading
May 23, 2024
Legislation proposes partnership with non-military hospitals in Indo-Pacific as fix to on-base medical understaffing
WASHINGTON — Faced with severe staffing shortages last summer, medical personnel at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, urged pregnant women to give birth elsewhere. The women were given two choices: use a Japanese hospital, where epidurals are rarely given and patients in labor can be denied admittance, or be flown to a location in the United States. Naval Hospital Okinawa, the only full-service medical center on the island, would not have enough staff to deliver babies from August to … Continue Reading
May 22, 2024
'Absolutely Fed Up': Senator Mulls Ways to Force Pentagon to Boost Incentive Pay for Guardsmen and Reservists
Two and a half years ago, Congress passed a law guaranteeing National Guardsmen and reservists would get the same amount of incentive pay for special skills as their active-duty counterparts. But the Pentagon still has not implemented that law, and one of the key senators who advocated for the change says her patience is running out. In an interview this week with Military.com, Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., suggested that the Pentagon has until the Senate Armed Services Committee debates its … Continue Reading
May 20, 2024
Disability Barriers to Air Travel Targeted in New Aviation Law
Air travel for those with disabilities is set to see some improvements stemming from broad, bipartisan legislation Congress cleared last week — a step forward in advocates’ long fight for friendlier skies. The multiyear Federal Aviation Administration legislation (H.R. 3935) authorizes $20 million a year for a new pilot program to make airports more accessible, requires plane seating accommodations and seeks to improve protections for passengers in wheelchairs and those traveling with service … Continue Reading
May 19, 2024
Duckworth brings Gaza medical team’s pleas directly to White House
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) delivered a letter to the White House on Sunday calling on President Joe Biden to use his full influence to secure the safe exit of American and international medical personnel trapped in Gaza in anticipation of an escalating military campaign in Rafah. The letter, shared with POLITICO, was written by Dr. Adam Hamawy, a U.S. Army combat surgeon who Duckworth credits with saving her life after she was shot down in Iraq in 2004. Hamawy is among the group of World … Continue Reading
May 13, 2024
Baby Food Safety Act Would Give FDA Authority to Limit Toxic Heavy Metals in Food for Children
To protect the health of young children, U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) have introduced legislation to limit the levels of toxic heavy metals allowed in foods produced for infants and toddlers. The House companion bill is led by Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Illinois) and Tony Cárdenas (D-California). The Baby Food Safety Act of 2024 would give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the authority to enforce scientifically established … Continue Reading
May 10, 2024
Sen. Duckworth promotes IVF ahead of Mother's Day
Sen. Tammy Duckworth on Friday used the approaching Mother's Day to renew her push to protect access to in vitro fertilization, which she used to conceive her own two daughters, in a roundtable discussion with local stakeholders on the city's north … Continue Reading
May 09, 2024
Service members and veterans are fighting for the right to fertility treatments
After having flown helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft in the Marines for 11 years, Jacquelyne Nichols left active-duty service and joined the reserves in part to pursue a new mission: building a family. But Nichols and her husband — who also served in the Marines — struggled to conceive when she returned home from deployment in Qatar in 2018, launching her on a yearslong fertility journey. “I knew that I could potentially sacrifice my life, limbs and health,” she said. “But what I didn’t … Continue Reading
May 03, 2024
Senator Duckworth applauds $240 million federal investment to remove lead from Illinois water
U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) celebrated the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) announcement of a more than $240 million investment from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. The funds will aid Illinois in identifying and replacing lead service lines, crucial in preventing lead poisoning among the state’s residents. Duckworth’s efforts culminated in the passage of the Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act, part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which marks … Continue Reading
April 22, 2024
Illinois, Chicago elected officials gather for groundbreaking of O'Hare Terminal 3 improvements
Last year, it was announced O'Hare is receiving a $50 million grant from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. It's part of a $300 million Terminal 3 improvement project. Upgrades include easier ways to check bags and get through security, more concessions and expanding access for people with disabilities. "Today marks a significant step forward in redefining the travel experience at O'Hare International Airport through the ElevateT3 project," Johnson said. "This transformative initiative not … Continue Reading
April 22, 2024
Senators show confidence in Johnson’s O’Hare rebuild plan
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plan to tweak the massive, delayed rebuild of O’Hare International Airport got a major vote of confidence Monday from Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth. Johnson wants to change the sequencing of construction on the long-awaited Global Terminal and two new satellite concourses. That idea had initially drawn pushback from the congressional leaders when first reported earlier this month. But Durbin and Duckworth rallied behind the plan Monday. “We’re in a better … Continue Reading
April 17, 2024
Boeing gets Senate scrutiny after scary incidents and whistleblower complaints
Two Senate panels Wednesday will probe what’s gone wrong at Boeing. But Washington’s relationship with the United States’ most important plane manufacturer will be the inevitable subtext. Boeing’s safety practices are facing increasing scrutiny following a series of alarming incidents involving its planes, including a high-profile incident in which a door panel on a 737 MAX jet blew off midair over Oregon — and more whistleblowers coming forward with allegations. Along with obvious questions … Continue Reading
April 17, 2024
Boeing has 'a long way to go' to fix its safety culture
US lawmakers challenged Boeing Co. to expend the necessary time and effort to reset what they called a broken safety culture and criticized the planemaker’s relationship with regulators as overly cozy. Boeing needs to be judged by what it does, not by what it says it’s doing, Senator Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, said in her opening remarks at a Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday. At a second hearing, Senator Richard Blumenthal said Boeing had made a “bad investment” with what … Continue Reading
April 12, 2024
Sen. Tammy Duckworth talks Illinois' manufacturing, aviation and reproductive rights
ROCKFORD (WREX) — Illinois Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth made a trip to Northern Illinois to try to help bring Monarch Energy to the Rockford area. She met with local officials and the company to see how she can help overcome some federal regulations that could be an obstacle to bringing it here. Some of those obstacles include the dates of when a nuclear plant or wind turbines were built in an area. "Illinois has been the leader in wind energy," Sen. Duckworth said. "So it's very unfair … Continue Reading
April 12, 2024
Clean energy project may be coming to Rockford, turning waste into aviation fuel
ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Senator Tammy Duckworth among other local government representatives spoke on a facility that could turn waste into aviation fuel on Friday. “So we are the future energy state for the nation, but that means we’ve got to work together,” said Duckworth. Duckworth spoke to Stateline-area government and local agencies about manufacturing goals and plans for the area, including possible plans of turning waste into aviation fuel through a proposal from California-based … Continue Reading
April 05, 2024
US senator wants probe of ‘undisclosed feature’ of 737 Max cockpit door
US Senator Tammy Duckworth is calling on the Federal Aviation Administration to examine why Alaska Airlines pilots were unaware of a critical feature of the 737 Max 9’s cockpit door ahead of the 5 January depressurisation event on Alaska flight 1282. The Illinois senator, who chairs the senate’s sub-committee on aviation safety, operations and innovation, urged FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker in a 4 April letter to “examine why pilots were not aware that the cockpit door of the 737 Max 9 … Continue Reading
April 04, 2024
Sen. Tammy Duckworth calls for FAA review of Boeing's failure to disclose 737 Max flight deck features to pilots
Senator Tammy Duckworth is urging the Federal Aviation Administration to take a closer look at how it responds to what she says is a pattern by Boeing of failing to disclose flight deck features of the 737 Max to pilots, according to a letter to be sent Thursday and obtained exclusively by CBS News. Duckworth, Democrat of Illinois and chair of the Senate's Aviation Safety, Operations and Innovation Subcommittee, is calling on FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker to investigate why Alaska … Continue Reading
April 01, 2024
Illinois poised to be leader in SAF production
linois is teed up to become an ideal ecosystem for production and use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). On top of the infrastructure, feedstocks and research facilities available, the Prairie State offers an additional incentive — a $1.50-per-gallon tax credit to purchasers and users of SAF. “That sends a strong signal that (Illinois) wants to see SAF part of the market,” ExxonMobil Senior Vice President Jack Williams said during the inaugural “Leading the Way: Sustainable Aviation Fuel in … Continue Reading
March 27, 2024
Senator Tammy Duckworth Is Demanding Rights for Disabled People
ELLE - Senator Tammy Duckworth still hasn’t seen Barbie. Last summer, she made headlines when she told Politico that a broken elevator prevented her and other wheelchair users from accessing a movie theater, ruining a planned outing with her daughters. That kind of thing happens to her a lot. When she’s home in Chicago, the Democratic senator from Illinois feels like she can’t even ride the L train, because she doesn’t know whether the station she’s traveling to is up-to-date on posting its … Continue Reading
