Duckworth, Newborn Make Senate History

Baby was brought onto Senate floor for vote
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Apr 19, 2018 1:40 PM CDT
Updated Apr 19, 2018 2:32 PM CDT
Duckworth's Baby Joins Her for Historic Vote
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., left, carries her baby Maile Pearl Bowlsbey as she heads to the Senate floor to vote, and is greeted by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., at right, on Capitol Hill, Thursday, April 19, 2018 in Washington.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Sen. Tammy Duckworth and daughter Maile have made Senate history, the AP reports. The Illinois Democrat brought her daughter, in a pink hat, onto the Senate floor Thursday under new rules that permitted it. Duckworth already is the only senator to have given birth while serving in the Senate. Maile, born April 9, is the first senator's baby to be allowed on the chamber floor. The history was made under a new rule passed a day earlier that permitted newborns of senators on the floor during votes. The Daily Beast says the vote was to confirm Jim Bridenstine as NASA administrator.

Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran and double-amputee, arrived in a wheelchair with Maile on her lap, voted no with a downturned thumb, and laughed. Her colleagues crowded around to see. (The "tea party congressman," a divisive appointee by President Trump, was confirmed narrowly in an unprecedented party-line vote, the AP reports.) Duckworth had previously tweeted a picture of Maile's outfit for the occasion, noting that she chose a jacket for the baby "so she doesn’t violate the Senate floor dress code requiring blazers." (More Tammy Duckworth stories.)

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