US senator brings her newborn baby to work to cast historic vote

Ms Duckworth is the first person to bring a newborn to the Senate floor after a rule change allowed it the day before

Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth has made history in the US Capitol by showing up for a vote with her newborn baby in tow.

Ms Duckworth, who gave birth to her child 10 days ago, was able to bring her baby to the floor for the historic moment after the Senate voted just a day earlier to allow children to come onto the floor for the first time.

The senator made her way to the floor for the historic moment thinking that she may have needed to cast a decisive vote on a contentious nominee put forward by the Trump administration, but that ended up not being necessary.

The baby, Maile Pearl Bowlsbey, still attracted quite a bit of attention in onesie and “blazer”.

Once the two were on the Senate floor, Senator Amy Klobuchar walked over and gave her colleague a hug. Both Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schemer and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also came over to say a thing or two.

“It meant so much to be able to cast the vote as a mom, and be able to do my job and take care of my baby at the same time,” Ms Duckworth told reporters after the moment, noting that she thanked Mr McConnell for allowing the change in Senate rules.

Ms Duckworth had taken a moment off from her maternity leave to come to the Capitol building when it appeared that she might be the deciding vote on the nomination of Representative Jim Bridenstine to run NASA. Democrats opposed Mr Bridenstine because of his views on climate change and the LGBT+ community, and also his vies on climate change.

He also has very little previous experience in science.

Turns out that Senator Jeff Flake, a Republican who has announced he will retire in part because of the political climate inspired by President Donald Trump, flipped over to vote in favor of the nominee after he received concessions on an unrelated matter.