Baby Maile, all of 10 days old, made history last month when she arrived on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Her mother Tammy Duckworth is the first U.S. Senator to give birth while in office, and the Senate rules were changed to accommodate the newborn. Children under one year can accompany parents to the floor during voting, according to the changed rules. The last time changes were made to floor access rules was in 1977 when service dogs were allowed.
“I made sure she has a jacket so she doesn’t violate the Senate floor dress code (which requires blazers),” Ms. Duckworth captioned a photo of the baby on Twitter as they headed to the Senate.
However, one of the last questions before the rules committee of the Senate that deliberated on the request to allow babies on the floor was about the dress code. “Now, some of that was in jest. But for instance, you have to wear pants or a skirt, and you can’t wear a little cap or a hat. You can’t wear sneakers, and you can’t wear flip-flops. But we have made an exemption for the baby, so the baby doesn’t have to comply with the dress code,” Senator Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota said later on the deliberations in the committee.
Orrin Hatch, the 84-year-old longest serving Senator apparently wondered, ‘Well, what if there’s 10 babies on the floor?’, according to Ms. Klobuchar. “And I said, ‘Well that’d be great, that’d be delightful, actually, if we had that many senators — men and women — that had young babies, that might be good for the whole place.’ Not to mention with all the gridlock, a lot of babies on the floor could be helpful,” she said.
Of the 11 U.S Senators, 22, and of the 435 Representatives, 183, are women. In the history of U.S. democracy, only 52 women have become Senators, while 1,900 men have. Ten members of Congress have given birth while in office and Ms. Duckworth herself had her first child when she was a Representative. A former soldier, she lost her legs in Iraq in 2004 when a rocket-propelled grenade hit the Black Hawk helicopter she was piloting.
Unprecedented number
An unprecedented number of women are seeking office in 2018 at various levels, as gender debates in America have gained new traction since the 2016 presidential campaign. Emily’s List, a Super Political Action Committee that raises money for women candidates, says 34,000 women have expressed interest this year. More than 300 may be running for House, the highest in history. Forty women could be running for Governor, also the highest. At least 29 women are running for the Senate, which is fewer than 40 that ran in 2016.
The question of allowing breastfeeding on the floor could come up next, some Senators have pointed out. But another immediate question is already before the Federal Election Commission (FEC): can a candidate pay for baby-sitting from campaign funds? Liuba Grechen Shirley, a Democrat running for New York’s second Congressional District, has brought up this question. In 1996, the FCC had ruled that when the wife of a Congressman joined him for “vital” events, the campaign could pay for baby-sitting. Ms. Shirley has a three-year-old daughter and one-year-old son. Hillary Clinton has weighed in.
If underwriting of childcare by campaign funds is not allowed, it would “discourage young mothers from seeking elective office, and deprive parents of ordinary means of the opportunity to serve,” her legal team has written to the FEC last week in support of Ms. Shirley’s request.
