The Senate did what few believed possible on Wednesday—it made some progress. In a unanimous vote, it reversed a rule that's banned babies from the Senate floor until now.
It was Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), who last week became the first senator ever to give birth while in office, that proposed the resolution. Although she's not formally back from a short maternal leave, Duckworth has known for months that she'd need the petition to give her permission to keep her newborn, Maile Pearl, with her while she votes when she returns. On Politico's Women Rule podcast, Duckworth anticipated the potential pitfalls: "You're not allowed to bring children onto the floor of the Senate at all, so if I have to vote and I'm breastfeeding my child, what do I do, leave her sitting outside?" said Duckworth.
Thankfully, no.
After several weeks of intense discussion, members have voted to allow Duckworth (and all future parents in the Senate) to have newborns on the floor. In a statement, Duckworth thanked her peers for their help in ushering "the Senate into the 21st Century by recognizing that sometimes new parents also have responsibilities at work."
But Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who helped lead the effort, said in an interview with AP News that the outcome, while a step forward, was hard won. Representatives from both parties raised their worries—some wanted to know whether Duckworth would change diapers in the chamber or what would happen if Maile made a lot of noise. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said Maile's presence would be "no problem," but he did want to know what would happen if 10 babies showed up to a vote. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) said that he, too, was cool with the new rule, but since some senators had their issues with it perhaps Duckworth could vote from the entrance to the cloakroom, a small space just outside the chamber, with Maile inside.
Klobuchar pointed out that the cloakroom is not accessible, however, and thus not an appropriate option for Duckworth, who lost both her legs and partial use of one of her arms after her helicopter was shot down in Iraq, and uses a wheelchair. To Hatch, Klobuchar replied that 10 babies on the floor of the Senate "would be a delight." And even Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) chimed in: "Why would I object to it? We have plenty of babies on the floor."
