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.
That was my first thought: “If motherhood is that important, Tammy, resign, go be a mother and leave us alone!”
I doubt there is anyone in the Senate that has the intestinal fortitude to intentionally get within 100 miles or a wolverine.
As one of those who she unfortunately represents (instead of the equally distasteful Mark Kirk, I am absolutely in favor of her spending less time on the Senate floor.
My wife says that women should tell this bozo about breast pumps.
Her husband, Bryan, proabably earns $150,000 as a JRSS Migration Manager at VAE, Inc at the National Bureau, in Virginia.
They don’t need government assistance to have a child and properly care for it.
Besides, at 50 years old and having a baby, isn’t she losing valuable calcium from the experience and other age/baby related things crashing on her?
Keep your daytime job Tammy and be a good a mom, instead of a mother*()!#$!...
That’s what she is alluding to. Saints preserve us.
Ok, leave them with a different senators staff member.
They are smart enough to get around this if they want. She just wants to change this because she wants to, not because its necessary.
She wants to be the first woman senator nursing on the senate floor.
Hey dont denigrate bunny rabbits. They are awesome pets. :)
“Destined?”
Really the word you want? Id say it occurred about 25-30 years ago.
A democrat one, hell yes it is.
Is remarkable. Remarkable it wasnt sacrificed to molech.
In any event not even a few months old and already being used by mommy as a political football.
Must be vying to be the senates nanzi pelosi.
What kind of mother brings her newborn around all of those people? When my children were newborns I didn’t even bring them to the mall or the supermarket. I tried to keep their exposure to viruses to a minimum. She is trying to project the image that she is a great mother, I beg to differ.
On Cspan.
The father of the baby should quit his job and be a full-time stay-at-home parent for the baby.
Yeah mores the shame
She is the first senator.
The Senate is not a Day Care.
You chose to have a child. You want that child to have the attention it deserves from you, it’s mother.
That is good.
Now go home and take care of it.
I have to admire that she is a disabled war veteran, garnered enough respect and votes to be elected to this position, and that she had a baby at her late age. However, I don’t think it is fair to her colleagues to be bringing in a newborn. She can leave the child with her mother or other trusted family member. The focus in the senate should be on running the country, not running a nursery.
She was just using her baby as a prop. That is all democrats do. It is all about them.
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