Posted on 04/18/2018 2:42:30 PM PDT by Simon Green
Senator Tammy Duckworth, the mother of a newborn daughter, is calling for a rule change that would allow children under the age of one to be brought onto the Senate floor during votes.
The Illinois Democrat, 50, became the first sitting senator to give birth while in office when she and her husband, Bryan Bowlsbey, welcomed Maile Pearl Bowlsbey April 9.
Current rules prohibit family members, including children, from the Senate floor, but Duckworth argued that the ban doesn’t support working parents who can’t be away from an infant for long periods of time in their first three months.
Duckworth said before the birth that although she would be on an unofficial maternity leave she intends to return to the Senate floor for important votes. Senators are not allowed to vote by proxy, and conflict of interest rules prevent them from leaving their children in the care of a staff member while they vote, Fortune reports, creating a difficult situation.
Senate leaders appear ready to approve the rule change, per Politico. The Rules Committee could consider the proposal as soon as this week, and if approved, the resolution would move to the full Senate for a vote.
In a statement when Maile was born, Duckworth said, “As tough as juggling the demands of motherhood and being a Senator can be, I’m hardly alone or unique as a working parent, and my children only make me more committed to doing my job and standing up for hard-working families everywhere.”
Duckworth is also the first woman with a disability elected to Congress. While serving as a Blackhawk pilot with the Illinois National Guard in the Iraq war, she lost both of her legs and the full use of her right arm when her helicopter was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG).
During her recovery, she became an advocate for better medical care for veterans, and her activism eventually led her to a political career.
Well after all she is a CONgresscritter. She is ABOVE you & me.
Yes. From another interview with her on the subject:
“If she’s hungry, that’s what you do; you feed your baby”
Senators have to penny pinch else she could have hired somebody to hold the baby for a half hour while she votes on the Senate floor.
Way to go Illinois. Gave us TD as one of 100. All because she served in the military.
....while she casts a vote to fund abortions.
Irony: The Mark of Quality Literature.
I figured that was the point. This is a good argument that women were meant to rule the world by rocking the cradle, not by voting on the floor of the US Senate.
Every one makes choices
Or pet wolverines
She’s a democrat. I say the child can stay, only if the child gets to vote in her place.
No that’s what breast pumps and bottles are for
And the husband can’t care for the child when she travels from IL to vote, why?
How abusive of her wanting the child to witness the mess that the senate is.
Maybe she shouldn’t be a Senator? Wrong line of work? You know, work?
Sure, just like all the other working women who have their infants with them on the job.
Next thing she’ll ask for is a changing table. Not To Worry, that group is used to the smell of “crap”.
Honestly, there is a time and place for everything and bringing a newborn to Congress is not the place for a child.
I think she is more about sending a message to women. How can she possibly get work accomplished bringing a newborn to work?
Seems like the real child in this scenario is Tammy. As if people should cater to her, just because...
Here comes the $3.2B cry room.
a 50 year old senator giving birth to a child is unremarkable?
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