Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said Thursday that she is working with Democratic leadership to change Senate rules in order to allow her to bring her baby onto the Senate floor.
Duckworth is expected to become the first senator to give birth while in office later this year. In an interview with CNN, she said the rules governing children brought onto the floor in the Senate are “outdated” and reflect a time before women, especially mothers, could be senators.
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“For me to find out that there are issues with the United States Senate’s rules where I may not be able to vote or bring my child onto the floor of the Senate when I need to vote because we ban children from the floor, I thought, ‘Wow, I feel like I’m living in the 19th century instead of the 21st, and we need to make some of these changes,'” the Illinois Democrat told CNN.
“I mean, this is ridiculous. We’re in 2018 and we’re still dealing with this in the United States of America. We’re better than that. And, certainly, this speaks to the problems we have in this country with the need for family leave and certainly more family-friendly legislation in this country.”
Duckworth went on to say that Democratic leaders in the Senate have been supportive of her effort to request an official rules change to allow any senator to bring a child onto the Senate floor within the first year of the child’s life.
“My leadership of the Democratic Party have been very supportive,” Duckworth told CNN.
“We’re going to request a rules change, so that during the first year of this child’s life, whether you are a woman or a man, whether you’re breast-feeding or not, or you’ve adopted or something, you should be able to bring that child on to the floor and continue to do your job.”
Duckworth’s bid to change Senate rules has received public support from some senators including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who called “dibs” on holding her colleague’s baby while Duckworth voted.
“I call dibs on holding @tammyduckworth’s baby while she’s voting — and fighting to change the Senate’s dumb rules so I don’t have to,” Warren tweeted.