It’s only right for the Senate to allow children on the floor
Apr 20, 2018, 6:07 AM | Updated: 6:49 am
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., arrives at the Capitol for a vote with her new daughter, Maile, bundled on her lap. In an historic change in Senate rules, the lawmakers decided to allow babies of members on the floor during votes. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
It was back in February when Senator Tammy Duckworth, who was about to become the first senator to give birth in office, asked this question on a Politico podcast.
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“So am I not allowed to vote. Can I not do my job?”
She wanted to breastfeed. And she also wanted to be able to vote. Yet Senate rules were clear: no children on the Senate floor while the Senate is in session – period.
“I’m even being told that I can’t technically take maternity leave. Because if I take maternity leave then I won’t be allowed to sponsor legislation or vote.”
Talk about an election year embarrassment – punishing a member for having a child. That was not gonna happen. So, as Nancy Cordes reported, the Senate voted unanimously to allow senators to carry their infants onto the floor.
Nursing on the floor is not allowed. Nor is diaper changing. As for crying, that should fit right in with the whining that already goes on.
However, as it turned out, little Maile wasn’t a problem on her first day. She slept right through the vote! We CSPAN fans can certainly identify with that.
I know many of you might see this as yet another outbreak of political correctness. But the way I look at it there ought to be infants in the chamber when the Senate votes. With the deficits they’re approving it’s only right they do it in front of the kids who’ll have to pay for it.
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