U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth Talks Mothering, Senatoring, And Couponing
Happy To Be Here
Greta Johnsen
4.8 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 7 September 2018
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois is one of only 52 women to ever serve in the Senate. There are currently 23 female senators, which is an all-time high.
“There are not enough women,” Duckworth tells Nerdette host Greta Johnsen. “We’re 20 percent of the Senate. That’s it. That’s wrong. We’re 51 percent of the population, yet 20 percent of those who make the laws that govern our lives.”
Duckworth also recently became the first sitting U.S. senator to have a baby while in office when she gave birth to her daughter Maile on April 9. She tells Greta about motherhood, political polarization, and her interesting personal obsession: extreme couponing.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This fall, W bez invites you to our upcoming live events. |
| 0:05.0 | Join us in person for smart discussions, heartfelt storytelling, and more. |
| 0:09.0 | Check out the full calendar now at W be easy.org |
| 0:12.6 | slash events. |
| 0:13.6 | From W be easy Chicago this is |
| 0:19.3 | Nurdette I am Greta Johnson and Nurdette is a show where we talk to your favorite or soon to be |
| 0:24.3 | favorite people about how their passions drive what they do. Our guest this week is |
| 0:29.7 | Illinois U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth. A few things about the senator, she is a |
| 0:34.6 | Democrat, she is 50 years old, and she is the first sitting U.S. senator to |
| 0:39.7 | give birth to a child while in office. She did that earlier this year. Her daughter |
| 0:44.1 | Myley was born in April and she also has a daughter named Abigail who's almost |
| 0:48.4 | four. Senator Duckworth is also a veteran. She was a helicopter pilot with the Army National Guard and |
| 0:55.0 | she lost both of her legs and injured her right arm in Iraq in 2004. Since then, she has served |
| 1:02.0 | as the Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs, gotten a PhD, served |
| 1:05.8 | in the U.S. House of Representatives, and been elected to the Senate. |
| 1:12.4 | Why did we want to talk to Senator Duckworth? She is currently one of only |
| 1:16.0 | 23 women who serves on the United States Senate. And here is a fun fact |
| 1:21.3 | even though actually it is not a fun fact at all. |
| 1:24.3 | In the entire history of the United States Senate, only 52 women have ever served as senators. |
| 1:31.3 | So Senator Duckworth is obviously super tough. She's obviously very powerful and |
| 1:35.7 | we had a lot of questions for her. |
| 1:38.0 | Senator, welcome to Nurdette. |
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