Power Breakfast

“We’ve had some changes in a very different, unique way in the Senate and that is that Tammy Duckworth became the first woman in the history of the United States Senate to give birth while in office,” said Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar at TheWrap’s Power Women Breakfast in Washington, DC who kicked off opening remarks at the W Hotel.

*/

“She is a decorated Iraq War Veteran who lost both of her legs and is this incredible pillar of strength every single day for all of us. She had a child and then she was pregnant with a second one, at age 50. She came to me and said: ‘I already have one child and we always voted at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning and it would be much easier if I could bring the baby with me every so often to vote.’ So I thought and I said to her: ‘No problem, oh yeah!’ I go back and I realize that they have not changed the Senate Rules for over 200 years. And the only time they changed access to the Senate floor was in 1987 when they allowed a dog on the floor. So I started working on this and I never thought I could reveal what happened except that then the day it passed, Senator Hatch actually said to the media, ‘Well, it’s okay, you know, if we had one baby at the floor, but what if we had 10 babies?’ And I said, ‘We already have 10 babies!'”