House Democrats refuse to let pregnant double-amputee congresswoman vote from home
HT to The Daily Caller for my title. From that piece:
House Democrats are refusing to allow Rep. Tammy Duckworth, a double-amputee veteran, to cast her vote for party leadership from her home in Illinois where she is pregnant and unable to travel.
Duckworth, who lost both legs when her helicopter was shot down in the Iraq War in 2004, sent a letter to Democratic House leadership requesting to cast her vote by proxy, National Journal reports.
“As you are aware, I am in the final weeks of my pregnancy, and have been instructed by my physician not to travel,” Duckworth wrote. “As a result, I will not be attending the upcoming Caucus meetings in person.”
“I would like to require a proxy vote on the upcoming leadership and ranking member elections that will come before the Caucus in the coming weeks.”
House Democrats’ policy requires members to vote for party leadership in person.
The letter was read during a closed-door meeting on Thursday, but senior party leaders, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Steering Committee co-chair Rosa DeLauro, from Connecticut, moved to block the request.
DeLauro is a member of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus. Not very pro-choice of her.
And speaking of DeLauro (pictured right), as @KateNocera noted on Twitter in light of the above, “well this is super awkward”…
The #Pregnancy Discrimination Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of pregnancy. Today we celebrate that! #PregnantAtWork
— Rosa DeLauro (@rosadelauro) October 30, 2014
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
#waronwomen
Now try to imagine if the Republicans had done this to a pregnant, double amputee Iraq war veteran.
Thank you Congresswoman Duckworth for your service and sacrifice.
I believe Gwen Moore, a democrat from Wisconsin was also denied – she wanted to attend a funeral.
Why don’t we just have them all vote at home on everything and save in travel costs.
Seriously, Ex? There is a difference between not wanting to attend and being unable to attend because a doctor tells you not to travel.
So if somebody’s kid died you wouldn’t allow them to?
I mean, draw the line for me – I’m interested to see what you allow and don’t.
Future dad with a pregnant wife?
New dad?
New mom?
Parent with a sick kid?
Funeral – spouse?
Funeral – kid?
Funeral – parent?
Bad hair day?
Ah, it’s that whole ‘slippery-slope’ thing Kate. Gotta be so careful, dunno where it could lead!
“I mean, draw the line for me – I’m interested to see what you allow and don’t.”
Ex-RINO,
DemocRATs are as phony as a three dollar bill. Every decision they make, every word from their mouths and everything that they do is weighed on the scales of political advantage. They fight to make it easier for undocumented voters to cast ballots because they believe the majority of these voters will vote for them. They fight to deny a person on medical leave the right to vote because they would cast their votes against the DemocRATic agenda.
Draw yourself a line that says people on an extended medical LOA from work can not be disenfranchised.
DemocRATs are also the party of abortion so don’t expect any humanity in their judgement.
Hi ts,
Excellent points. I think we also talk basic common sense and humanity here.
A medical leave, a funeral, a family emergency. These are just some of the situations where one extends a hand of concern and compassion toward someone. Also each situation is judged on an individual basis.
Congresswoman Duckworth has served and sacrificed for her country. She has been ordered by her doctor not travel. Rosa DeLauro is a member of the so called Pro Choice caucus yet she can’t respect Ms. Duckworth’s choice to have her baby and to take all the necessary precautions to protect herself and her baby?
So where is NOW?
Good point ts, maybe Congresswoman Duckworth planned to cast a vote against them. All the more reason she remain unseen and unheard, like women should be.
truth
I find your points highly applicable to both parties.
So you’re saying anybody on a medical leave of absence should be required to vote by proxy – but you wouldn’t allow it for anything else – is that what you are saying?
Need vs Want: a concept hard to grasp by toddlers and Democrats alike.
9ek
I think you are capable of answering the question – so you’re saying anybody on medical level of absence should be given the okay, but others – you are not in favor? So if a lawmaker has a kid who has died – or if a male lawmaker has a newborn, or his wife is in labor, you’d not allow it?
Hasn’t a common sense list ever been drawn up?
If not, maybe it should be. Golly.
Ex-RINO, I would ask you to draw a line but you seem befuddled so I will tell you how a progressive statist like yourself ‘draws the line’. You would whine and wale that the status quo is unsustainable and have Obama pen an executive action creating a czar to oversee ann entire new administrative office to oversee a government board of appointees to decide each ’emergency’ on a case-by-case basis to determine who gets the privilege to vote by proxy. Does that work for you?
truth
Just asking you to draw the line.
An easy line is to always allow it for any reason. Another is to never allow it for any reason.
You seem to want one in the middle, based on non political purposes, so draw the line.
Ex-RINO, I did draw the line but you seem incapable of understanding it. And you also seem incapable of drawing the line for yourself so I offered the suggestion above to see whether or not that would be a solution you could understand and get behind.
If you are still having trouble seeing the line then as long as you are willing to answer my questions I post to you along the way; then I can step you through it one case at a time if you need me to. Let’s begin. Do you agree that people on extended medical LOA should be allowed to vote?
A simple yes or no is fine…
It is the democRATs party. They get to make the rules and bend em, break em or ignore em as early and as often as they want.
.
But an argument could be made that requiring ms Duckworth to appear in person in order to cast her ballot is ‘voter suppression’.
.
Next thing you know House democRATs will be requiring a photo ID before members of the party are allowed to cast their ballot.
TS,
The ex-rino is not asking you to ‘draw the line’, she NEEDs your assistance to connect the dots.
Rep. Duckworth,
Since the Democrats made you a persona non grata, I would consider switching parties.
Sorry – was out of town a couple of days –
If they don’t have rules on it, and two people request, then you either let both people, or neither at all. How they don’t have rules on this is beyond me.
You can’t pick and choose people though at that point though and be fair about it.