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.
Poor kid was birthed to be a political prop.
At 50 years old no less. Have we heard if the kid has Downs?
I, for some reason, want to hear her next speech on the “wage gap”.
Freaking spare me. You don't need to be tied at the hip with your newborn 24/7 Tammy. A baby can spend a couple hours away from you while you are on the Senate floor. And if that means that you spend less time on the Senate floor, good. No one wants to see you anyway.
She should resign in order to take care of the baby.
Hardly an improvement on 'Duckworth'.
She could use her power as Senator to jump the wait list for the Senatorial Day Care Center.
More likely, she used carefully vetted donor eggs with pre-implantation genetic screening.
I would settle for addressing the gap between her years.
If I want someone incoherently screaming and filling her diapers on the floor of Congress, I can think of some already there who are far worse than an infant.
On days that all members are allowed to bring kids, this would be fine. But otherwise, this is the workplace, your special place for a government, and legislators. She can leave her kid at home, with her husband, or family.
“Duckworth argued that the ban doesn’t support working parents who can’t be away from an infant for long periods of time”
Seems like you:
A. Can’t really afford children.
B. Need to prioritize work and parent imperatives.
I think the Senate should allow it as long as others can bring their emotional support bunny rabbits.
Duckworth acts like she’s the first woman to have ever had a baby. Our halls of Congress becoming a DAY CARE CENTER is highly symbolic of the total EMASCULATION of America.
Agreed. If you can’t support your kid without government assistance, you have no business having one in the first place.
Is she going to breastfeed the child at work ?
Of course no one will have the stones to object. 50 is to old, kinda selfish imho when the child is 20 she’ll be 70.
Now there’s a spouse destined to be extremely High Maintenance! It takes a special kind of man to be her husband.
Are we going to be subjected to her breast feeding on the Senate floor? This just seems to be the natural progression of things these days.
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