"Following the birth of Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s baby last week, the U.S. Senate took a historic step Wednesday by voting to allow its members to bring babies onto the chamber floor. While many are celebrating the move as a positive change for working mothers, others say there’s still a long way to go to achieve widespread family-friendly policies.
Duckworth didn’t waste any time taking advantage of the new rule.
On Thursday, she arrived at the U.S. Senate, with 10-day-old Maile Pearl Bowlsbey on her lap, to cast a vote against the appointment of Rep. James Bridenstine as NASA administrator, which ultimately passed. 'It feels great,' the Illinois Democrat told reporters gathered outside the Capitol when she arrived. 'It’s about time.'
...The unanimously supported resolution allows senators to bring their children younger than 1 year old onto the floor. Duckworth, who became the first senator to give birth while in office when her daughter was born April 9, called for the change. Because senators must be present to cast their votes, the old rules made it virtually impossible for a mother on maternity leave to do her job as an elected official.
'I would like to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle … for helping bring the Senate into the 21st century by recognizing that sometimes new parents also have responsibilities at work,' Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran who was injured in combat, said in a statement.
'By ensuring that no senator will be prevented from performing their constitutional responsibilities simply because they have a young child, the Senate is leading by example and sending the important message that working parents everywhere deserve family-friendly workplace policies,' Duckworth said. 'These policies aren’t just a women’s issue. They are a common-sense economic issue.'”
