Chicago Sun-Times: All posts by Sen. Tammy Duckworth2022-08-03T18:00:00-05:00https://chicago.suntimes.com/authors/sen-tammy-duckworth/rss2022-08-03T18:00:00-05:002022-08-03T17:17:51-05:00We must use every legislative tool to defend abortion rights
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<img class="Image" alt="Abortion rights activists demonstrate in Washington on June 30 against the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. " srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/1bf892b/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6000x3367+0+316/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FAuqkC2XyXRIVk3OELY5wx61oaZM%3D%2F0x0%3A6000x4000%2F6000x4000%2Ffilters%3Afocal%283000x2000%3A3001x2001%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F23921282%2FAP_Poll_Abortion.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/e22dd39/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6000x3367+0+316/resize/980x550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FAuqkC2XyXRIVk3OELY5wx61oaZM%3D%2F0x0%3A6000x4000%2F6000x4000%2Ffilters%3Afocal%283000x2000%3A3001x2001%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F23921282%2FAP_Poll_Abortion.jpg 2x" width="490" height="275"
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>Abortion rights activists demonstrate in Washington on June 30 against the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. </p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photos</p></div></div>
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<p>When Anna’s water broke on her wedding day, she knew something was wrong.</p><p>Anna was just 19 weeks pregnant — and <a class="Link" href="https://www.npr.org/2022/02/28/1083536401/texas-abortion-law-6-months" target="_blank" >living in Texas</a> after Senate Bill 8 effectively <a class="Link" href="https://www.npr.org/2021/10/01/1042209230/federal-judge-weighs-in-on-biden-administrations-attempt-to-block-texas-abortion" target="_blank" >banned most abortions.</a> When she and her fiancé rushed to the hospital, they received heartbreaking news. The baby would not survive, and she had a high chance of bleeding out.</p><p>But even though doctors recommended terminating the pregnancy, they wouldn’t say the word “abortion,” let alone conduct the procedure. Instead, Anna had to spend thousands of dollars and fly hundreds of miles to reach Colorado, the closest state that could give her the care she needed to survive.</p><p>This was last September, nine months before the Supreme Court’s decision in <i>Dobbs v. Jackson</i> overturned <i>Roe v. Wade</i>. And while Anna’s story is tragic, it is no longer anomalous. In this post-Roe world, more and more states are stripping Americans of a constitutional right that has helped protect us for the past half-century.</p><div class="RichTextSidebarModule Enhancement" data-module data-align-floatRight><a class="AnchorLink" id="module-8d0000" name="module-8d0000"></a>
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</div><p>Now, the next Anna’s life will be in the hands of lawyers arguing for her to access care — or at the whim of a doctor, forced to choose between risking jail or restricting the care she needs.</p><p>Last month’s decision has already transformed reproductive care for millions of Americans. But it will fall most heavily on those facing the highest <a class="Link" href="https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2017/07/women-color-access-vital-health-services-threatened" target="_blank" >barriers to care</a> and <a class="Link" href="https://prosperitynow.org/blog/racial-wealth-divide-snapshot-women-and-racial-wealth-divide" target="_blank" >prosperity</a>: women of color.</p><p>Studies show that women of color <a class="Link" href="https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/state-indicator/abortions-by-race/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%257B%2522colId%2522:%2522Location%2522,%2522sort%2522:%2522asc%2522%257D" target="_blank" >use abortion services more</a> than any other group. But conservative lawmakers have long worked to make reproductive care inaccessible to them. Women of color are more likely to be <a class="Link" href="https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/issue-brief/health-coverage-by-race-and-ethnicity/" target="_blank" >uninsured</a>, <a class="Link" href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/women-of-color-and-the-wage-gap/" target="_blank" >low-income</a> and to use <a class="Link" href="https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/seeking-causes-race-related-disparities-contraceptive-use/2014-10" target="_blank" >less effective birth control</a>. </p><p>Due to the Hyde Amendment, even those who use public insurance — from low-income communities to veterans and <a class="Link" href="https://reproductiverights.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Serving-Those-Who-Serve-Abortion-Access.pdf" target="_blank" >service members</a> — struggle to access abortion care. Unequal coverage ensures that health care remains more attainable for the wealthy, yet out of reach for those working to make ends meet.</p><p>The Supreme Court’s decision only raises these barriers, with potentially deadly consequences.</p><h5>Law divorced from justice</h5><p>Laws like <a class="Link" href="https://www.law.georgetown.edu/poverty-journal/blog/the-disparate-impact-of-texas-abortion-ban-on-low-income-and-rural-women/" target="_blank" >SB8 in Texas show</a> abortion restrictions will reach women of color first. An uneven patchwork of care is forcing patients to travel long distances, a costly choice if you don’t have <a class="Link" href="https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/abs/10.1377/hlthaff.2021.00731?pubCode=www.healthaffairs.org&journalCode=hlthaff" target="_blank" >paid sick leave</a> at work. Ending <i>Roe</i> enables laws that <a class="Link" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/asian-tropes-sex-selective-abortion-bans-advocates-worried-come-rcna27915" target="_blank" >invade the privacy</a> of people suffering miscarriages and put women, transgender men, nonbinary individuals and their doctors at risk of jail time. And research shows banning abortion will <a class="Link" href="https://www.colorado.edu/today/2021/09/08/study-banning-abortion-would-boost-maternal-mortality-double-digits" target="_blank" >increase maternal mortality</a> by 21%.</p><p>Indeed, such legislation has already placed patients in mortal danger. Women like Anna have been forced to <a class="Link" href="https://www.thelily.com/the-texas-abortion-ban-has-a-medical-exception-but-some-doctors-worry-its-too-narrow-to-use/" target="_blank" >travel hundreds of miles</a> for life-saving care. Patients suffering miscarriages have had their <a class="Link" href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/05/10/1097734167/in-texas-abortion-laws-inhibit-care-for-miscarriages" target="_blank" >prescriptions denied</a> by suspicious pharmacists. Scores of social media users have <a class="Link" href="https://twitter.com/AngelBrittanyxo/status/1541086732199813123?cxt=HHwWhoCzjfmNheMqAAAA" target="_blank" >shared stories</a> of care <a class="Link" href="https://twitter.com/shmoore75/status/1541568861811662849" target="_blank" >denied</a> or <a class="Link" href="https://twitter.com/Daviemoo/status/1541463173831839745" target="_blank" >delayed</a>, even when the fetus is not viable or the mother’s life is in danger — or the mother is a child.</p><p>As someone who has suffered a miscarriage myself, I cannot imagine the trauma these women have endured: managing the profound grief of losing a child while forced to fight for the health care that should be their human right.</p><p>The very notion is inhumane. It is law divorced from justice.</p><p>So let me be clear: Those seeking care should not be ashamed. Women should be allowed to make their health care decisions without Mitch McConnell or Brett Kavanaugh looming over them.</p><div class="RichTextSidebarModule Enhancement" data-module data-align-floatRight><a class="AnchorLink" id="module-930000" name="module-930000"></a>
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</div><p>The people who should feel shame are those who claim to be pro-life yet would let a mother die needlessly and preventably during childbirth; block access to affordable child care; or who ensure assault rifles are easy to get but basic health care impossible to find.</p><p>Yet these are the people who have no shame. And I’ll be damned if I let my daughters grow up with fewer rights than their mom had.</p><p>By safeguarding abortion rights whenever and wherever possible, we can protect women of color and the thousands of others who obtain abortions every year.</p><p>Legislators in states where abortion remains legal, like my home state of Illinois, must act quickly to establish safe havens for patients. Meanwhile, those of us in Washington who support abortion access must use every legislative tool to defend our rights. We must end the filibuster to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act and codify the right to abortion access, as well as pass legislation like the <a class="Link" href="https://www.duckworth.senate.gov/news/press-releases/duckworth-murray-hirono-lee-reintroduce-each-act-to-guarantee-abortion-coverage-regardless-of-a-patients-insurance" target="_blank" >EACH Act</a> (Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Healthcare) to put the priorities of the American people above partisan gridlock.</p><p>As we reckon with the Supreme Court’s decision, we must not falter against Republicans’ anti-woman attacks. Instead, we must redouble our commitment to protecting abortion rights: for our daughters and our daughters’ daughters, for communities of color and for all Americans.</p><p>Now, more than ever before in our lifetimes, we must defend liberty and justice for all.</p><p><i>Tammy Duckworth is a Democratic senator from Illinois.</i></p><p><i>The Sun-Times welcomes letters to the editor and op-eds. </i><a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/pages/submitting-op-eds-and-letters" target="_blank" ><i>See our guidelines</i></a><i>.</i><br></p>
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2022/8/3/23290920/we-must-use-every-legislative-tool-to-defend-abortion-rights-op-ed-duckworthSen. Tammy Duckworth2021-09-27T12:50:55.456-05:002021-09-27T12:50:59-05:00Those Afghan refugees coming our way? They risked everything for us. Now we must step up | Duckworth
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>A female American servicemember wraps her arms around two Afghan refugees at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey on Sept. 27.</p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>AP Photos</p></div></div>
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<p>“Bad guy is going to come and is going to kill you, then us.”</p><p>So said one of the young children of Reggie, an Afghan national who witnessed firsthand the horrors of not only the two-decade war that ravaged his country but also the rapid takeover by the very forces he’d spent much of those years fighting.</p><p>Reggie, whose real name wasn’t revealed by NPR <a class="Link" href="https://www.npr.org/2021/08/24/1030561797/an-afghan-interpreter-is-out-of-afghanistan-along-with-his-family" target="_blank" > when it shared his story</a>, worked as an interpreter for the U.S. military. Day after day, mission after mission, he risked his life to protect the lives of the troops around him, though they wore a different country’s flag on their shoulders. </p><p>One day, a suicide vest detonated in front of him, seriously wounding an American soldier, Capt. Flo Groberg. Reggie acted instinctively. He hurried over to Capt.<i> </i>Groberg to help staunch the bleeding, and he managed to do so — not caring that he also had been injured in the blast.</p><div class="RichTextSidebarModule Enhancement" data-module data-align-floatRight><a class="AnchorLink" id="module-800000" name="module-800000"></a>
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</div><p>Nine years later, as Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, it was Reggie’s life that needed to be saved. Aware that the Taliban would likely seek revenge on those who had aided American troops, he was desperate to get himself and his loved ones out of Afghanistan. </p><p>With Groberg’s help, amidst terror in the streets, Reggie was able to do just that — and now, thankfully, his family is in the process of relocating to the United States.</p><p>Reggie’s story is exceptional, but it’s not the exception. Over the past 20 years, thousands of Afghan translators and interpreters worked shoulder-to-shoulder with American servicemembers. They were willing to sacrifice because our nation had assured them that when the time came, we would look after them — just as they had looked after us.</p><p>When I served as a helicopter<i> </i>pilot in Iraq, our ground units relied on Iraqi interpreters every day. No matter where we flew, no matter the danger, they were on the ground with U.S. infantry, making sure landing zones were safe for us to touch down. They were our siblings-in-arms, right there in fighting positions alongside us.</p><p>They were there even when it meant putting a target on not only their own backs, but their loved ones’ as well.</p><p>There’s no doubt in my mind that my buddies and I wouldn’t have been able to complete our missions — and might not have made it home — were it not for the interpreters who helped U.S. forces. I know there are countless troops who served in Afghanistan who feel the same way. </p><p>Now it’s on us to ensure that the words in the Soldier’s Creed — “never leave a fallen comrade” behind — hold true even in this moment after we’ve left the warzone.</p><p>A few weeks ago, the last American planes took off from the Kabul airport, full of some of the thousands of Afghan nationals that managed to escape from Afghanistan during the recent military evacuation. They had done their part for us, time and again. And now, as they and their families begin to resettle here in the U.S., it’s time for us to do our part for them.</p><p>As a mom, I can’t begin to imagine having to pick my two little girls up in my arms and race into danger to get to an airport and safety, knowing that at any moment the Taliban could prevent us from leaving — or worse. </p><p>I can’t fathom having to pack my daughters onto a crowded plane in the midst of a pandemic, knowing that exposing them to COVID-19 might be the only way to keep them from facing the men with rifles if we were to remain in Kabul for even another hour. </p><p>And I certainly can’t comprehend the fear and worry that must come with having to rip my children away from their homes in favor of a faraway nation whose language they don’t speak, just because I, or someone I loved, tried to help the United States of America.</p><p>Now, as the world’s eyes are on Afghanistan, it is on us to help our nation keep its word to these heroes by helping them settle into our country. It is on us to remind the world that our nation is not just great, but also good. It is on us to show that while our nation will never be perfect, we are welcoming these allies and, in so doing, striving to move closer to that more perfect union our founders envisioned. </p><p>As a senator, I’ll be working to make sure we provide federal resources to the local refugee resettlement programs that are supporting these families as they start their new lives in the United States. I will also do all I can to ensure that we get out those Americans and at-risk allies who remain in Afghanistan so that they, too, can set foot on American soil and breathe free. </p><p>But outside the halls of the Capitol, I’ll also be doing whatever I can to welcome these Afghans and make sure they feel at home, and I hope each of you reading this will join me.</p><p>If you can, donate clothes. Help furnish an apartment. Vouch for them as they try to get jobs and get their kids into schools. At the very least, be kind to them. </p><p>Let them — and the world — know that America will always welcome those who are willing to sacrifice for our nation’s founding ideals. </p><p>For these families, who can still smell the dust of Afghanistan and hear the roar of the explosions that rocked their streets, the very least we can offer may just mean the very most. </p><p><i>Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat and retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel, has served as the junior U.S. senator from Illinois since 2017. </i></p><p><i>Send letters to </i><a class="Link" href="mailto:letters@suntimes.com" target="_blank" ><i>letters@suntimes.com</i></a><i>.</i><br></p>
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/9/27/22696607/afghan-refugees-tammy-duckworthSen. Tammy Duckworth2021-04-22T11:43:33.806-05:002021-04-22T13:24:54-05:00No child should be exposed to pollutants just by drinking water from the kitchen tap
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>The American Jobs Plan is poised to repair aging roads and bridges, jump-start transit projects and rebuild school buildings and hospitals and would also expand electric vehicles, replace all lead pipes and overhaul the nation’s water systems. </p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images</p></div></div>
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<p>The water was brown — a murky, mud-like, tragic brown. Until that moment, I had never even considered that a color could be tragic in itself.</p><p>It was years ago, in the middle of a House Oversight Committee hearing on the Flint water crisis. At the time, my older daughter was just a year old. I remember looking out into the audience and seeing a mom holding a baby bottle that looked exactly like the one my baby drank out of — a little bottle, with a pink top.</p><p>Unlike my daughter’s bottle, however, the water in this bottle was that horrifying, rancid-looking brown.</p><div class="RichTextSidebarModule Enhancement" data-module data-align-floatRight><a class="AnchorLink" id="module-ba0000" name="module-ba0000"></a>
<div class="RichTextSidebarModule-title">Opinion bug</div>
<div class="RichTextModule-items RichTextBody"><h2>Opinion</h2></div>
</div><p>I couldn’t — and all these years later, still can’t — begin to imagine what it would’ve been like to have to drink that water while I was pregnant, or to have no choice but to give it to my baby, because I couldn’t afford clean, safe drinking water. But that kind of nightmare remains everyday reality for far, far too many parents across this country.</p><p>It’s been seven years since some leaders of the City of Flint tried to save a few dollars by swapping its drinking water supply from Detroit’s system to the Flint River, setting off a chain of events that poisoned nearly 9,000 kids in just 18 months while too many elected officials covered their eyes to the crisis at hand.</p><p>But while Flint was a tragedy, it was not an anomaly.</p><p>In the years since, countless more Americans have been exposed to pollutants simply by taking a sip from their kitchen faucets. More than 6 million homes continue to get water from lead service lines. And as of 2019, roughly half a million children under the age of 6 still had elevated levels of lead in their blood — something that can cause permanent brain damage — perhaps in part due to the federal government’s share of capital spending in the water sector falling from 63% in 1977 to a meager 9% in 2017.</p><p>Imagine if your child was one of those who’d gotten sick because legislators refused to take action on such an obvious crisis. Imagine if you had to be the one to get your newborn to sip water that you couldn’t even see through.</p><p>We should not let even one more parent suffer through that worst-case scenario.</p><p>Every American has a right to clean water, no matter their zip code, the color of their skin or the size of their income. It is long past time that we turn that right into a reality, investing in the kinds of projects that would put Americans back to work rebuilding our crumbling water infrastructure.</p><p>That’s one reason why I’ve partnered with the leaders of the Senate Committee on Environment and Publics Works, Senators Tom Carper and Shelley Moore Capito, to introduce my bipartisan <i>Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act of 2021 — </i>legislation designed to help keep our kids safe when they drink from the water fountain at recess and to modernize and improve our drinking water and wastewater systems across the country. Because if our nation truly wants to “Build Back Better,” we cannot merely fix our roads while failing to repair the pipes beneath them. We must be willing to invest the money necessary to provide every family access to the most basic human need: clean water.</p><p>That’s exactly what my bill would do. It would authorize more than $35 billion for water resource development projects across the country, with a focus on upgrading aging infrastructure, addressing the threat of climate change and investing in new technologies. It would also focus on grant opportunities rather than just loans, so that <i>all</i> communities have access to the help they need to protect families rather than just the ones that can afford it — because the awful fact of the matter is that even while a community’s racial and economic breakdowns are the top predictors of waste facility locations, disasters in environmental justice communities still don’t get the same attention or assistance as those that take place in wealthier, whiter neighborhoods.</p><p>If there’s anything the past year has taught us, it’s that when we work together to protect the health of our most vulnerable neighbors, we improve the quality of life for all of us. So as President Biden and Congress begin working on a new infrastructure bill, it’s important that we also finally bring our country’s water system in line with our nation’s values.</p><p>Because to me, it comes down to this: No mother should have to hold a bottle full of brown water up to her baby’s lips. No father should have to worry about giving his child a glass of water before bedtime. No family should fear that their house will be flooded by sewage every time it rains.</p><p>This is a matter of health and safety. It’s is a matter of systemic racism and of discrimination against those in poorer neighborhoods. It’s a matter of justice — both for those who’ve already suffered too much and those whose suffering we may still be able to prevent.</p><p>It’s a crisis that is daunting, yes, and devastating, certainly — yet it’s a crisis that <i>is</i> solvable, one bill passed, one water fountain tested and one child saved at a time.</p><p><i>Send letters to </i><a class="Link" href="mailto:letters@suntimes.com" target="_blank" ><i>letters@suntimes.com</i></a><i>.</i><br></p>
https://chicago.suntimes.com/opinion/2021/4/22/22397648/country-water-system-in-line-with-nation-values-tammy-duckworthSen. Tammy Duckworth2020-06-09T12:25:44-05:002020-06-09T12:25:06-05:00It broke my heart to watch two generals walk like lapdogs behind a five-time draft-dodger
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>President Donald Trump walks with U.S. Attorney General William Barr (L), Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper (C), Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark A. Milley (R), and others to visit St. John’s Church in Washington after the area was cleared of people protesting the death of George Floyd June 1, 2020.</p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images</p></div></div>
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<p>Last week, Donald Trump trampled the First Amendment rights of Americans to peaceably assemble for a redress of grievances. </p><p>Even before any curfew went into effect, the Trump administration ordered federal law enforcement to violently remove Americans who stood in his way of a disgusting, crass photo-op. The president may have been waving a Bible, but in using police to forcibly remove a priest and seminarian from his camera shot, he revealed his contempt for the truly faithful.</p><p>As if that weren’t bad enough, Trump also threatened to exploit the most powerful military on the face of the earth — disrespecting our troops in the process — to achieve his political goals. </p><div class="RichTextSidebarModule Enhancement" data-module data-align-floatRight><a class="AnchorLink" id="module-ea0000" name="module-ea0000"></a>
<div class="RichTextSidebarModule-title">Opinion bug</div>
<div class="RichTextModule-items RichTextBody"><h2>Opinion</h2></div>
</div><p>It broke my heart to watch Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, a West Point graduate who swore the Cadet’s Honor Code to never “lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do,” and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark A. Milley, walking like lapdogs behind a five-time draft-dodger who is more interested in <i>looking</i> like a leader than actually <i>being</i> one — a commander in chief who views our troops as “killing machines” and glorifies torture and pardons war criminals.</p><p>Secretary Esper’s excuse, that he didn’t know where he was going, is not the exoneration that the secretary believes it is. In fact, it’s downright chilling. Every agency leader swears an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Blindly following Donald Trump when he violates the Constitution betrays that promise. Worse still, it sends an insidious and horrifying message to our troops — especially our black and brown troops — that our military’s civilian leaders will not protect them from unlawful orders.</p><p>Esper and Milley should be ashamed of themselves, as should my Republican colleague, Sen. Tom Cotton, whose sycophantic defense of Trump’s threats in the <i>New York Times</i> was as dangerous as it was disgraceful, suggesting that he, too, would pervert what our military stands for to earn a slap on the back from the current occupant of the Oval Office, regardless of the damage it would cause our Union.</p><p>We know Trump admires authoritarian leaders, and that he proudly touts his ignorance of the United States Constitution. When Trump tests our democracy for weakness, when he pushes the boundaries of executive authority, every American should be deeply disturbed. </p><p>A majority of the House of Representatives and a minority of the Senate have done everything in their power to neutralize the threat of Donald Trump. Earlier this year, I joined many of my colleagues in voting to convict and remove Trump for abusing his power. I did not take my vote to convict him lightly, and I remain disappointed that too many of my colleagues failed to see the risk in giving Trump a pass for his obvious, clear and well-proved crimes against our country. For sending a message to him that no matter what he does, no matter who he hurts, no matter what crimes he covers up and no matter what constitutional norms he tramples on, his allies in Congress will let him get away with it. </p><p>Trump’s own lawyers literally testified in federal court that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue in New York and be immune from arrest and prosecution so long as he remains in office. Their argument is, essentially, that federal law enforcement has no authority over the president. Never mind that out country was founded on the concept that no one is above the law, or that we fought a revolutionary war so we wouldn’t be subject to a king.</p><p>Our democracy is running out of off-ramps. We are perilously close to martial law and the use of America’s military against its own people. But one off-ramp remains: If good, decent Americans disagree with those Trump and the party that’s enabled him for so long, the last off-ramp is the ballot box. Each of us can make our views known there. And we should. </p><p>We cannot allow any commander in chief to use our active-duty servicemembers to silence our neighbors. To drive yet another wedge between Americans. We cannot allow any commander in chief to put the reputation of our Armed Forces, the last institution Americans can trust and respect, at risk by using them unlawfully and putting them in a position of exacerbating the divisions driving our Union apart — a sentiment that Trump’s own former secretary of defense voiced this week as well. Tear-gassing peaceful protesters is not leadership; it’s cowardice. Threatening military force and imprisonment against Americans exercising their Constitutional rights is not presidential, it’s tin-pot dictatorial.</p><p>America deserves leaders who unite us at all times, but in times of crisis like this, leaders need to listen to cries for help and give those fighting for justice a platform to be heard, not treat them like enemies who can only be dealt with by using force. </p><p>Americans are in pain right now, but instead of helping us all heal, Trump is causing even more pain. I know that as members of one of the most diverse institutions in our country, our servicemembers understand this pain — that many are hurting themselves — and I know they want to help our nation heal. </p><p>They deserve — we all deserve — a commander in chief who pulls us together instead of abusing our dedicated servicemembers to push us further apart.</p><p><i>Tammy Duckworth, a former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and combat veteran of the Iraq War, has served as the junior U.S. senator from Illinois since 2017. </i></p><p>Send letters to <a class="Link" href="mailto:letters@suntimes.com" target="_blank" >letters@suntimes.com</a>.</p><p></p>
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/6/9/21285381/tammy-duckworth-tom-cotton-trump-draft-dodger-american-military-mark-esper-mark-milleySen. Tammy Duckworth2016-05-03T17:56:00-05:002020-06-09T12:22:12-05:00How to give people on Social Security a fairer shake
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>Legislation pending in Congress would eliminate a “performance pay” tax loophole for top executives, generating more money for Social Security increases, write the authors. (AP Photo/Joe Marquette)</p></figcaption></div>
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<p>In 2009, a Chicagoan by the name of David Voigt lost his job. He applied for job after job. He even tried finding work in different fields and new careers — but, like so many others at the peak of the recession, he just couldn’t find work with the economy doing as poorly as it was.</p><p>After five years of struggling to get by and make ends meet, Mr. Voigt was on the brink of homelessness when he was able to officially retire and apply for Social Security at the age of 62. His Social Security checks were small, but they were big enough that he could keep his home and put food on his table.</p><p>His story isn’t unique. Americans from around the country have similar stories.</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center>
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<blockquote><p>OPINION</p></blockquote>
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<p>Since 1975, seniors, workers with disabilities, children and veterans who rely on Social Security payments to get by have been able to count on regular “cost of living adjustments,” or COLAs, to help the value of their modest benefits keep pace with rising costs for things like housing, food, insurance and medication.</p><p>But this year, for just the third time since 1975, Social Security beneficiaries didn’t get a COLA at all. Not a single penny. Their payments stayed exactly the same as they were last year — even though the cost of core goods and services is rising. Historically, COLAs — tied to an inadequate measure of the rate of inflation — are modest. In 2015, the average increase was just $22 per month more. But that extra money can be essential for people living on fixed incomes.</p><p>While that small sum of money may not sound like much, because the majority of Social Security beneficiaries depend on Social Security for most of their income, it can make a world of difference for some of our most vulnerable, financially stretched families, friends and neighbors. In Illinois alone, that includes 2.4 million residents – about 18 percent of our state. That includes 158,000 children, 876,000 women over the age of sixty-five, 292,000 disabled workers and 97,000 thousand veterans and their families’ members who could be forced into painful choices, such as forgoing gas to get to work or medication they need to live.</p><p>Mr. Voight’s health insurance premiums skyrocketed this year, and he’s struggling to pay all of his bills. He knows better than most how hard it is to get by without a COLA. It’s a tough year for him, but not for CEOs at the biggest companies in the country. Instead of an unexpected increase in health insurance cost, the average CEO at one of the top 350 American companies saw their $16 million salary grow by more than $600,000.</p><p>That huge salary bump is subsidized by taxpayers like us, like Mr. Voigt, and like you. And that’s a result of Congress’ choices. Current law lets corporations skirt the taxes they should pay — and that could be used to give our most vulnerable a modest COLA — by taking unlimited corporate deductions through a tax loophole for executive “performance pay.”</p><p>That loophole is in a law that was once described by a former Republican Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee Chairman as having “more holes than Swiss cheese,” and today it costs taxpayers about $5 billion dollars every year.</p><p>But we can change that law — and we can put the tax dollars saved to work helping Mr. Voigt and millions around the country like him. By eliminating the performance pay tax loophole, we could pay for a 3.9 percent or about $580, one-time benefit boost — the same percentage top CEOs saw their salaries grow in 2014 — for those who have been denied their COLA this year. Our SAVE Benefits Act would do just that. It would give 70 million Americans — seniors, veterans, children and more — a desperately-needed boost to their finances, and it wouldn’t cost taxpayers a single penny. Closing this loophole even leaves enough revenue left over to help extend the life of the Social Security trust fund.</p><p>Statewide, Illinois veterans, workers with disabilities, children and seniors would have an extra $1.4 billion to spend in their local communities on necessities like groceries, heating, and medical care. For roughly one million Americans, the SAVE Benefits Act would mean moving above the poverty line.</p><p>Corporations should be free to pay their CEOs whatever they choose, but taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to subsidize those salaries — especially not when it gets in the way of our most vulnerable citizens leading more secure lives. We hope our colleagues in Congress work with us to pass this fully-paid-for bill to finally close this tax loophole and help almost 70 million Americans living on fixed incomes.</p><p><i>Sen. Elizabeth Warren is a Democrat from Massachusetts. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat, represents Illinois 8th Congressional District.</i></p><p><i>Follow the Editorial Board on Twitter: </i><a class="Link" href="https://twitter.com/csteditorials" target="_blank" ><i>Follow @csteditorials</i></a></p><p><a class="Link" href="https://twitter.com/CSTeditorials" target="_blank" >Tweets by @CSTeditorials</a></p><p>Send letters to letters@suntimes.com<br></p>
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2016/5/3/18392021/how-to-give-people-on-social-security-a-fairer-shakeSen. Elizabeth WarrenSen. Tammy Duckworth