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Prediction track record
How often we called Tammy Duckworth's passage votes correctly, from their stated positions on each bill's tagged topics. Excludes “unclear” calls and abstentions.
100%
Accuracy
1
Correct
0
Incorrect
409
Pending
Right119-sjres-184
A joint resolution to direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress.
A joint resolution to direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress.
To prohibit the disclosure of records by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development of individuals for the purposes of immigration enforcement, and for other purposes.
Based on 5 data points across public statements and recorded votes · AI analysis of public records
119-sjres-184·Consistent
A joint resolution to direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress.
95/100
What they said
May 1, 2026
Senator Duckworth opposes the Trump administration's military action in Iran, characterizing it as an unjustified war of choice that lacks strategic planning, has resulted in military casualties, and diverts resources from Indo-Pacific readiness. She advocates for passage of a War Powers Resolution to cease hostilities.
Voted Yea on A joint resolution to direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress.
Senator Duckworth's statement explicitly opposes the Trump administration's military action in Iran as an unjustified war of choice lacking strategic planning, and she advocates for passage of a War Powers Resolution to cease hostilities. Her yes vote on S.J.Res. 184, which directs removal of U.S. Armed Forces from Iran hostilities absent congressional authorization, directly aligns with her stated position. Both the statement and vote reflect opposition to the ongoing military operations and support for congressional action to end them.
A joint resolution to direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress.
95/100
What they said
Apr 29, 2026
The senators oppose the ongoing military conflict in Iran as unauthorized under the War Powers Act and call for Congress to pass a War Powers Resolution to immediately end the conflict and withdraw U.S. forces.
Voted Yea on A joint resolution to direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress.
Senator Duckworth's statement explicitly calls for passage of a War Powers Resolution to end the unauthorized military conflict in Iran and withdraw U.S. forces. Her vote in favor of S.J.Res. 184, which does precisely that by directing removal of U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities in Iran absent congressional authorization, is directly consistent with her stated position. Both the statement and vote align on the core substantive question of ending the unauthorized war.
A joint resolution to direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress.
92/100
What they said
Sep 30, 2026
Senator Duckworth opposes continued U.S. military involvement in Iran, characterizing it as an unjustified forever war similar to Iraq. She calls on President Trump to end military operations in Iran to prevent further loss of life.
Voted Yea on A joint resolution to direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress.
Senator Duckworth's statement explicitly opposes continued U.S. military involvement in Iran, calling it an 'unjustified forever war' and urging the President to end operations. The joint resolution directly addresses this by directing removal of U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities in Iran absent Congressional authorization. Her yes vote on passage is strongly consistent with her stated opposition to the Iran military operations.
A joint resolution to direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress.
92/100
What they said
Aug 24, 2026
The senators call for a congressional hearing to investigate the Trump Administration's handling of extended military deployments in Iran, citing deteriorating conditions, supply shortages, and negative impacts on troop morale, readiness, recruitment, and military families.
Voted Yea on A joint resolution to direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress.
Senator Duckworth's statement criticizes the Trump Administration's extended, unauthorized military deployments in Iran and calls for investigation into the resulting harm to troops and military readiness. The joint resolution directly addresses the same specific question—whether U.S. Armed Forces should remain engaged in hostilities against Iran absent congressional authorization—and mandates their removal. Her yes vote on passage aligns clearly with her stated position opposing the unauthorized, indefinite war and its documented toll on servicemembers.
A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of Veterans Affairs relating to "Reproductive Health Services".
85/100
What they said
May 7, 2026
Senators Duckworth and Durbin, joining Senate Democrats, filed an amicus brief opposing a Fifth Circuit decision that would restrict mifepristone access by reimposing in-person dispensing requirements. They argue the medication is safe and effective under FDA oversight, and that court restrictions undermine the FDA's evidence-based approval process and limit reproductive healthcare access.
Voted Nay on A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of Veterans Affairs relating to "Reproductive Health Services".
Senator Duckworth's statement supports access to mifepristone and reproductive healthcare, opposing court restrictions on FDA-approved medications. Her NO vote on S.J.Res. 10 is consistent with this position: the resolution would nullify a VA rule that expands reproductive health services, including abortion-related care, to veterans. Voting against the nullification preserves access to those services. The statement and vote align on the substantive question of reproductive healthcare access, though they address different specific contexts (mifepristone access generally vs. VA provision of abortion-related care).
Pairs with ambiguous language and high uncertainty are withheld until more data is available. Procedural, cloture, and amendment votes are excluded — they don't cleanly signal substantive support or opposition.
Pro analysis
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Crossing the aisle
No party-break passage votes recorded for Tammy Duckworth. Either they've voted with Democrats on every substantive passage vote in the corpus, or their tenure overlaps few high-threshold party-line votes so far.
Duckworth, Senate Democrats Call on HHS Secretary to Reverse Plans for Trump Administration Lawyers to Represent Unaccompanied Children in Immigration Court | U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois
Position: The release urges HHS to reverse its decision to have HHS attorneys represent unaccompanied children in immigration court, arguing this creates a conflict of interest and that independent counsel is required under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008.
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Today, U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Richard J. Durbin (D-IL), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) urged Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to reverse the decision for HHS attorneys to represent unaccompanied children against the Trump Administration’s own deportation machine and restore independent legal counsel immediately. In the letter to Secretary Kennedy, the Senators underscored how failing to reverse this decision would result in a clear conflict of interest, especially since HHS has a responsibility to care for these kids in custody and already shares personal information with immigration enforcement. The Senators’ letter comes after Duckworth held a press conference in Chicago lambasting the Trump Administration for this latest attempt to violate these children’s due process rights and called for the reversal of these egregious plans.
“HHS holds these children in custody, decides where they live and shares information about them and their families with immigration enforcement. HHS cannot also be their lawyer,” wrote the Senators. “The immigration judge works for the Trump Administration. So does the prosecutor. Under your plan, so would the child’s lawyer. That is unacceptable.”
As a direct result of the Trump Administration cutting funding to facilitate independent legal aid for unaccompanied migrant children, this year tens of thousands of children faced immigration judges with no legal representation. In their letter, the Senators cited how the bipartisan Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 legally requires HHS to make every effort to secure pro bono counsel that will provide independent representation and protect the kids from mistreatment or exploitation. By appointing HHS attorneys to these cases instead, the Administration intends to place these children in removal proceedings led by judges working for the U.S. Department of Justice with legal representation that is anything but independent.
The Senators continued, “Reunifying children with their families is HHS’s job. Legally representing an unaccompanied child, including against HHS in legal proceedings, is not. It is a job for an experienced, expert and independent attorney trained to represent unaccompanied children who are often experiencing extreme stress and trauma.”
Additionally, the Senators highlighted that HHS’s decision would discourage these kids from reporting abuse, trafficking and dangerous family circumstances to their lawyers for fear of the information reaching immigration enforcement. Notably, HHS’s announcement mentions no procedures for screening conflicts, protecting client confidentiality or insulating attorneys from HHS’s custodial functions.
“HHS cannot serve as both custodian and counsel. You must meet your statutory obligation to these children. Unaccompanied children deserve lawyers whose only loyalty is to them. We demand that you rescind this harmful policy before a single HHS attorney stands beside a child in immigration court,” the Senators concluded.
The full text of the letter is available on Senator Duckworth’s website and below.
We call on you to rescind your decision to have U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) attorneys represent unaccompanied children in immigration proceedings through the newly created Unaccompanied Alien Children Legal Representation Division (UACLRD). HHS holds these children in custody, decides where they live and shares information about them and their families with immigration enforcement. HHS cannot also be their lawyer.
The immigration judge works for the Trump administration. So does the prosecutor. Under your plan, so would the child’s lawyer. That is unacceptable. We demand that you:
On September 29, 2026, HHS published a notice in the Federal Register that places the UACLRD within its Office of the General Counsel (OGC). According to the notice, the division “provides direct legal services to unaccompanied alien children,” including “introductory legal orientation concerning immigration proceedings” and representation in immigration court. The division reports to the General Counsel through a designated Deputy General Counsel and “may coordinate with other OGC components and appropriate Federal entities as necessary” to carry out its work. The notice says the division will not advise the Administration for Children and Families or the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) on matters involving its clients, but it sets out no procedures for screening conflicts, protecting client confidentiality or insulating attorneys from HHS’s custodial functions.
HHS has described the division as “an additional mechanism to provide these children direct legal support while dedicated public servants work around the clock to safely reunify them with their families.” Reunifying children with their families is HHS’s job. Legally representing an unaccompanied child, including against HHS in legal proceedings, is not. It is a job for an experienced, expert and independent attorney trained to represent unaccompanied children who are often experiencing extreme stress and trauma.
Congress was clear in the bipartisan TVPRA. HHS must ensure, to the greatest extent practicable, that unaccompanied children who are or have been in Federal custody have counsel “to represent them in legal proceedings or matters and protect them from mistreatment, exploitation, and trafficking,” and it must make every effort to utilize the services of pro bono counsel who agree to represent these children without charge.
HHS’s own regulations require that the legal orientation children in ORR custody receive “be provided by an independent legal service provider,” and they provide for funding legal service providers to represent children directly when pro bono counsel is not practicable. The September 29 notice assigns legal orientation to attorneys in your General Counsel’s office. An HHS employee is not an independent legal service provider. For nearly two decades, under administrations of both parties, HHS met these obligations by funding outside legal service providers with the expertise and independence these cases require. HHS has spent more than a year dismantling that system.
ORR withheld payments to legal service providers in late 2025 after they declined to hand over confidential client information, and in August a Federal court ordered HHS to pay more than $65 million in overdue invoices. HHS let the contract covering more than 20,000 children expire on July 31, 2026. Your Department then turned to a small law firm with little immigration experience, which withdrew, and to Our Rescue, a controversial nonprofit with no apparent experience representing children in immigration court, whose $158 million no-bid sole source contract is stayed.
Today, children are left with an ineffective temporary provider, the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, whose representatives have reportedly sat silent at some children’s hearings and missed others. Many children in custody have reportedly not received the legal orientation HHS’s regulations require, and in August a one-year-old appeared in an Arizona immigration court without a lawyer. Having created this gap, HHS now proposes not to fix it but to fill it with its own employees.
The conflict of interest is clear. UACLRD attorneys would be HHS employees supervised by the HHS General Counsel, who answers to you, the official responsible for every custody, placement and release decision HHS makes. In immigration court, they would face U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) attorneys seeking the child’s removal, before an immigration judge who answers to the Attorney General of the United States.
Professional conduct rules in Illinois and across the country prohibit a lawyer from letting the person who employs or pays the lawyer direct or regulate the lawyer’s professional judgment on a client’s behalf. Federal public defenders, sometimes cited as precedent for government-paid counsel, operate under the Federal judiciary, independent of the Department of Justice that prosecutes their clients.
The UACLRD would sit inside the agency that holds its clients in custody. Consider a child abused while in ORR care. Will a UACLRD attorney zealously gather evidence and litigate against HHS colleagues or HHS grantees? If the child may be eligible for a U visa as the victim of a qualifying crime, will the HHS attorney pursue that relief when it exposes failures in HHS’s own program? Will the attorney challenge Executive Office for Immigration Review decisions in Federal court, or argue for an interpretation of immigration law that contradicts the Attorney General?
The conflict is sharpest for children seeking Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) status, a path to lawful permanent residence for children who cannot reunify with one or both parents because of abuse, neglect, abandonment or a similar basis under State law. A child in ORR care in Illinois, as elsewhere, may petition a State court for the findings SIJ status requires. But Federal law bars a juvenile court from determining the custody status or placement of a child in HHS custody unless you specifically consent to that jurisdiction, and ORR decides where each child is placed, including whether to transfer a child to a State where those findings are harder to obtain. A UACLRD attorney would have to ask the attorney’s own employer for that consent and challenge that employer’s placement and release decisions to keep the child’s case alive and win the child’s release to a safe, vetted sponsor. An independent lawyer faces no such conflict.
Children must also be able to tell their lawyers about abuse, trafficking and family circumstances, with confidence that the information will be properly reported and without fear that the information will reach immigration enforcement. Independent legal advocates can play an important role in referring cases with indication of trafficking directly to the Office of Trafficking in Persons (OTIP). But without independent legal advocates, HHS’s recent policy change requiring care providers to refer cases to ORR instead of directly to OTIP in 24 hours, as mandated by Federal regulation, could endanger children at risk of trafficking even more than it already does.
HHS has shown it cannot be trusted to protect children who report abuse or trafficking. According to internal Federal data reported by Reuters, immigration authorities have arrested more than 12,000 people, including children and their sponsors, after tips from ORR. No child can be expected to confide in a lawyer employed by the agency that supplied those tips. The notice does not bar the UACLRD from sharing client information with the Department of Homeland Security. It permits coordination with “appropriate Federal entities,” limited only by the attorneys’ “professional responsibilities” to their clients.
HHS cannot serve as both custodian and counsel. You must meet your statutory obligation to these children. Unaccompanied children deserve lawyers whose only loyalty is to them. We demand that you rescind this harmful policy before a single HHS attorney stands beside a child in immigration court.
Duckworth Joins Colleagues to Demand Answers on Childhood Vaccines EO, Measles Deaths and Delayed Vaccine Access | U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois
Position: Lawmakers urge the CDC Director to uphold evidence-based public health and scientific integrity, and to explain how the agency will respond to a presidential executive order and HHS request for information on the childhood immunization schedule, the reported exclusion of measles deaths from public counts, and delays in fall vaccine access through the Vaccines for Children program.
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) and U.S. Representative Kim Schrier, M.D. (D-WA-08) along with 29 colleagues in a letter to Dr. Erica Schwartz, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to call out efforts to reject settled vaccine science and demand answers about the CDC’s efforts to implement President Trump’s childhood vaccine Executive Order (EO), underreport measles-associated deaths and delay access to childhood immunizations.
“[...] As the United States is experiencing the largest measles outbreak in 35 years, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) aimed at dismantling core immunization guidelines, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a Request for Information (RFI) to lay the groundwork for fundamentally restructuring the routine childhood immunization schedule. At the same time, reports indicate the CDC, under your leadership, excluded verified state-reported measles-associated deaths in Pennsylvania from the public mortality count. All of this is happening while the CDC delayed access to fall respiratory virus vaccines through the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program. We are deeply concerned by this administration’s persistent efforts to reject settled science. As CDC Director, you bear a responsibility to uphold scientific integrity, and we write seeking answers on how the CDC will respond to the EO and the RFI, and how you will honor the pledge you made to ensure that the CDC leads with evidence-based public health,” began the lawmakers.
The United States is facing a decline in childhood immunization rates. Recently, the CDC reported that 280,000 kindergartners did not complete their measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine series. This comes as the Trump administration has actively worked to lower the number of recommended immunizations, break up safe and effective combination shots and promote legal action against states unaligned with such efforts.
Additionally, the CDC has a long-standing agency precedent and prides itself on “objective data collection and reporting.” At the beginning of September, numerous reports exposed that four measles-associated deaths verified and reported by the Pennsylvania Department of Health were excluded from the CDC’s public outbreak tracker for weeks, even as internal CDC systems continued to track these fatalities. This omission breaks with agency standards, and raises serious questions about the CDC’s willingness to resist political pressure over settled science.
“The health of American children and families depends on a CDC Director who is willing to follow the science, even when it may be politically inconvenient. We look forward to your response and to seeing whether the CDC under your leadership honors the commitments you made at your confirmation hearing,” concluded the lawmakers.
In addition to Duckworth and Bennet, this letter was co-signed in the Senate by U.S. Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Angus King (I-ME), Ed Markey (D-MA) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR).
In addition to Schrier, the letter was also signed in the House by U.S. Representatives Nanette Barragán (D-CA-44), Troy Carter (D-LA-02), Yvette Clarke (D-NY-09), Madeleine Dean (D-PA-04), Chris Deluzio (D-PA-17), Maxine Dexter (D-OR-03), Debbie Dingell (D-MI-06), Jonathan Jackson (D-IL-01), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-08), Mike Levin (D-CA-49), Doris Matsui (D-CA-07), Betty McCollum (D-MN-04), Joseph Morelle (D-NY-25), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Brittany Pettersen (D-CO-07), Melanie Stansbury (D-NM-01), Mark Takano (D-CA-39), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-12), Paul Tonko (D-NY-20) and Lori Trahan (D-MA-03).
The full text of the letter is available on Senator Duckworth's website and below:
At your confirmation hearing, you said that your “sacred responsibility” as Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would be to provide “clear, honest, and evidence-based” public health guidance and to “never betray the science.” In the short time since your confirmation as CDC Director, the health and safety of our children have been subjected to further chaos and confusion. As the United States is experiencing the largest measles outbreak in 35 years, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) aimed at dismantling core immunization guidelines, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a Request for Information (RFI) to lay the groundwork for fundamentally restructuring the routine childhood immunization schedule. At the same time, reports indicate the CDC, under your leadership, excluded verified state-reported measles-associated deaths in Pennsylvania from the public mortality count. All of this is happening while the CDC delayed access to fall respiratory virus vaccines through the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program. We are deeply concerned by this administration’s persistent efforts to reject settled science. As CDC Director, you bear a responsibility to uphold scientific integrity, and we write seeking answers on how the CDC will respond to the EO and the RFI, and how you will honor the pledge you made to ensure that the CDC leads with evidence-based public health.
The CDC recently reported that the number of children up-to-date on their immunizations has continued to decline, including 280,000 kindergartners who did not complete the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) series. Instead of spending time and dedicating resources to promote the need for childhood immunizations, President Trump called for breaking up combination shots like the MMR vaccine into single-disease shots that are not available in the United States, cutting the number of diseases every child is recommended to be protected against from 18 to 11, and directing the Attorney General to advance legal challenges to state laws. Following this EO, HHS issued an RFI on the childhood immunization schedule, aimed at bypassing the CDC and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which have developed recommendations for over 60 years. These efforts are only a part of the systematic attacks spearheaded by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. CDC’s scientists, not political appointees, should be at the center of any decision about the childhood immunization schedule.
During this same timeframe, CDC’s public actions under your leadership raise serious concerns regarding your willingness to counter these unscientific measures – including reports that four measles-associated deaths verified and reported by the Pennsylvania Department of Health were excluded from the CDC’s public national mortality count for weeks, even as internal CDC systems continue to track these fatalities. This is a clear break from long-standing agency precedent, including last year’s standard reporting of measles deaths in Texas and directly contradicts the commitment to “objective data collection and reporting” that has been CDC’s foundation. If the agency under your leadership is altering verified state data to fit political preferences, the pledge you made at your confirmation hearing has already been broken.
We request responses to the following questions in writing by October 16, 2026.
CDC Role on the Executive Order on Childhood Vaccines
a. If so, who reached out, what was discussed, and when did these communication(s) occur?
b. If not, have you raised, or do you plan to raise, any concerns with President Trump, Secretary Kennedy, or any other administration official(s)?
The health of American children and families depends on a CDC Director who is willing to follow the science, even when it may be politically inconvenient. We look forward to your response and to seeing whether the CDC under your leadership honors the commitments you made at your confirmation hearing.
Duckworth, Durbin Join Bicameral Coalition in Pressing Trump Administration on Illegal Reallocation of Funding for Minority Serving Institutions | U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois
Position: The release opposes the Administration's reallocation of federal funding authorized for Minority-Serving Institutions to other institutions, arguing the redirection violates statutory requirements and should not come at MSIs' expense.
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined U.S. Senator Mazie Hirono and a bicameral coalition in pressing Secretary of Education Linda McMahon on the Administration’s illegal decision to redirect funding from Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) to other institutions. In a letter to Secretary McMahon, the members emphasized that while increasing funding for those institutions is important, the additional investments cannot come at the expense of MSIs that serve millions of students nationwide. The letter also reiterated the illegal nature of the decision to redirect funding that was statutorily authorized in specific amounts for specific purposes—in clear violation of the law.
“This administration unnecessarily reallocated half of these funds in order to put out a press release leading up to midterm elections touting how much funding it was providing to HBCUs and Tribal Colleges—while robbing MSIs of investments Congress has provided them. It is offensive that the Trump administration is pitting these institutions of higher education and the students they serve against each other, and going to extra lengths to do so,” the members wrote.
There are currently more than 800 federally recognized MSIs which include Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions (ANNHSIs), Native American-Serving Non-Tribal Institutions (NASNTIs) and Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs). These MSIs serve more than 5 million students collectively and have been receiving congressionally directed federal support for more than 30 years.
In 2019, Congress passed and President Trump signed into law the bipartisan Fostering Undergraduate Talent by Unlocking Resources for Education Act (FUTURE Act), permanently authorizing $255 million in mandatory funding for HBCUs, TCCUs and MSIs.
“The law is clear. Congress mandated that funds, with specific statutorily prescribed amounts, be provided for each grant program with specific statutorily defined purposes in each fiscal year,” the members wrote.
In addition to Duckworth, Durbin and Hirono, the letter was cosigned in the Senate by U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Patty Murray (D-WA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Chris Coons (D-DE), Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Jack Reed (D-RI), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Ed Markey (D-MA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mark Warner (D-VA) Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Michael Bennet (D-CO).
In addition to U.S. Representatives Meng, Espaillat and Clarke, the letter was also cosigned in the House by U.S. Representatives Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC-At Large), Mark Takano (D-CA-39), Danny Davis (D-IL-7), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-8), Judy Chu (D-CA-28), Jesus “Chuy” Garcia (D-IL-4), Dina Titus (D-NV-1), Paul Tonko (D-NY-20), Melanie Stansbury (D-NM-1), Jill Tokuda (D-HI-2), Robin Kelly (D-IL-2), Jimmy Gomez (D-CA-34), Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA-10), Emily Randall (D-WA-6), Jasmine Crockett (D-TX-30), Joaquin Castro (D-TX-20), Ed Case (D-HI-1), J. Luis Correa (D-CA-46), Susan Bonamici (D-OR-1), Sylvia Garcia (D-TX-29), Robert Menendez (D-NJ-8), Ted Lieu (D-CA-36), Mike Thompson (D-CA-4), Derek Tran (D-CA-45), Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12), George Whitesides (D-CA-27), Salud Carbajal (D-CA-24), Greg Stanton (D-AZ-4), Linda Sánchez (D-CA-38), Chellie Pingree (D-ME-1), Darren Soto (D-FL-9), Juan Vargas (D-CA-52), Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM-3), Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ-7), Jennifer McClellan (D-VA-4), Kevin Mullin (D-CA-15) and Robert Garcia (D-CA-42).
The full text of the letter is available on Senator Duckworth’s website and below:
Your recent decision to reallocate mandatory funding for Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) in Fiscal Year 2025 and Fiscal Year 2026 is an illegal violation of Congress’ spending authority under the Constitution. No court has found these programs that Congress has funded to be unconstitutional, and the administration’s mere belief that they are does not give it the necessary authority to spend those funds for any other purpose or program.
Many of us previously sent you a letter urging you to allocate Title III and Title V discretionary and mandatory funds as Congress directed to the more than 800 federally-recognized MSIs, which include Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-Serving Institutions (ANNHSIs), Native American-Serving Non-Tribal Institutions (NASNTIs) and Predominantly Black Institutions (PBIs). Combined, these institutions enroll more than 5 million students in rural and urban communities in states across the country. The Higher Education Act created the statutory framework for grants to these institutions, and has been in place for more than 30 years.
In December 2019, Congress passed and President Trump signed into law the bipartisan Fostering Undergraduate Talent by Unlocking Resources for Education Act (FUTURE Act), permanently authorizing $255 million in grant funds for MSIs, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs). The funds are allocated across seven grant programs, each with a designated funding amount beginning in Fiscal Year 2020 and continuing thereafter. This authorization was an extension of prior mandatory appropriations that began in Fiscal Year 2008 and then expired.
Reallocation of Funds Designated for HSIs, AANAPISIs, ANNHSIs, and NASNTIs
On September 22, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced it would reallocate FY25 and FY26 mandatory funds Congress had specifically allocated for MSIs to HBCUs and TCCUs. In the news release announcing this illegal action, ED announced a “significant, one-time investment of more than $174 million in additional funding to strengthen” HBCUs and “a one-time award of more than $61 million in additional funding” for TCCUs.
While we strongly support additional funding for HBCUs and TCCUs, increasing funding for some institutions should not come at the expense of others. Furthermore, as previously stated, ED has no authority to redirect mandatory funding for MSIs—in this case, for HSIs, AANAPISIs, ANNHSIs and NASNTIs—for other purposes or programs. In fact, the entire basis for invalidating and redistributing these funds seems to be a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinion from December 2, 2025, which wrongly determined that both discretionary and mandatory grants for HSIs, AANAPISIs, ANNHSIs and NASNTIs and discretionary grants for PBIs, were unconstitutional—without any judicial decision squarely dictating such a conclusion, and lacking any statutory authority to spend mandatory funds for anything other than their required purposes.
Shortly thereafter, ED stated that it was evaluating the full impact of the OLC opinion on the programs. ED then took several actions which made clear that it would not fund the programs, including by not allowing institutions to reapply for eligibility for the programs, and not including them in the eligibility matrix for Title III and Title V funds.
Reallocation of Funds Designated for PBIs
Even by its own baseless standards, the administration determined in the December 2025 OLC memo that the race-based provisions of this program could be severed and stated that ED could continue to provide these competitive grants for the authorized uses in this program, regardless of whether the grant recipient is a PBI. However, rather than adhering to the statute authorizing this grant program—or even OLC’s own wrongful guidance—ED allocated these funds to grantees under a different program with a separate purpose.
Unnecessarily Accelerating Obligation of FY26 Mandatory Funds
On top of all of this, the Trump administration took the completely unnecessary step of obligating FY26 mandatory funding for these programs a full year before it has historically been done, and a full year before the funds expire. These funds are available for two years—funds becoming available in FY26 are available for obligation through FY27. If ED only continued to award funds on the schedule it has historically, FY26 funds would be awarded this time next year.
The administration has claimed it reallocated these funds so they did not lapse and go to waste. While the Trump administration is perfectly willing to let appropriated funds lapse in other cases, including most recently with international education and migrant and seasonal farmworker education programs, half of the MSI funds it reallocated were not going to lapse this year. Even if one were to take the administration’s misguided legal view of these programs at face value, for half of these funds the choice was not between reallocating funding or having the funds lapse. The administration has said repeatedly it wants to work with Congress on solutions to address the legal status of these programs. While we fundamentally disagree with the administration’s view, the administration could have simply continued to administer these funds on the timeline it always has—which means obligating the FY26 funds next September—and waited to see if Congress enacted a solution or a court ruled on the constitutionality of these programs over the course of the next year. In fact, Congress did enact a temporary and albeit imperfect fix in the FY26 Consolidated Appropriations Act when faced with the fact that the Trump administration would otherwise let discretionary funding for MSIs lapse.
This administration unnecessarily reallocated half of these funds in order to put out a press release leading up to midterm elections touting how much funding it was providing to HBCUs and Tribal Colleges—while robbing MSIs of investments Congress has provided them. It is offensive that the Trump administration is pitting these institutions of higher education and the students they serve against each other, and going to extra lengths to do so. If President Trump and this administration were serious about investing in all of these institutions—as each of us is—the president would push for more funds for them instead of seeking to slash education programs while supersizing the Pentagon’s budget.
The law is clear. Congress mandated that funds, with specific statutorily prescribed amounts, be provided for each grant program with specific statutorily defined purposes in each fiscal year. To be clear, mandatory funding for HBCUs, TCCUs, HSIs, AANAPISIs, ANNHSIs, NASNTIs and PBIs—as provided by the FUTURE Act—cannot be reallocated for other purposes or programs without explicit authorization from Congress. ED does not have the unilateral authority to reallocate these funds.
The Executive Branch’s improper use of mandatory funds plainly violates Article I of the Constitution, which delegates the spending power to Congress. By failing to follow the law and fund programs as Congress directed, and to instead allocate funds for other unauthorized purposes, the Executive Branch has clearly exceeded its Constitutional authority. ED must immediately remedy these illegal actions and restore the funds that were illegally taken away from HSIs, AANAPISIs, ANNHSIs, NASNTIs, and PBIs. Increases in funding for HBCUs and TCCUs should not come at the expense of other critical institutions of higher education. We would welcome the opportunity to work on a bipartisan basis with the administration to increase investments in MSIs, HBCUs and TCCUs.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter. We look forward to your response.
Duckworth Statement on Attempted Mass Shooting on Hindu Place of Worship in Aurora | U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois
Position: The release condemns an alleged plot to carry out a mass shooting at a Hindu place of worship in Aurora, Illinois, and calls for communities to reject hate and ensure residents can practice their faith without fear. It references the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act as prior legislative action addressing anti-Asian hate crimes.
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) issued the following statement in reaction to police arresting and charging a man with felony crimes for an alleged plot to carry out a mass shooting at a Hindu place of worship in Aurora, Illinois:
“This horrific attempted attack in Aurora goes against everything America stands for. I’m deeply grateful to both the suspect’s coworkers who alerted law enforcement and to the heroic first responders who acted swiftly to save lives. While the worst was prevented and fortunately no one was hurt, it remains a tragedy in and of itself that such an evil plot against the Hindu community was even conceived. It is a stark reminder that when white supremacy knocks, we all have a responsibility to answer loudly and make it clear there is no home for such hatred here in Illinois. In this deeply disturbing moment, we must come together to help ensure every Illinoisan can practice their faith and live without fear.”
In the wake of this attempted attack against Indian Americans at the Hindu temple in Aurora, today Duckworth spoke with U.S. Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-8), first responders and community leaders to hear their concerns and offer support. The incident comes amid persistent anti-Asian hate nationwide, with reported anti-Asian hate crimes remaining nearly three times higher in 2024 than the average annual number reported between 2013 and 2018. Duckworth has long been a leader calling for an end to anti-Asian hate, helping lead the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act that was signed into law by President Biden to help address the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes, improve hate crime reporting, expand public awareness and support affected communities.
Duckworth, Durbin Urge Amtrak to Put Community Input over Private Interests | U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois
Position: Senators Duckworth and Durbin call for Amtrak to prioritize community input and engagement before proceeding with plans to relocate its maintenance facility from 14th Street to Canal Street Yard in Chicago, citing concerns about the pace of the project and insufficient local consultation.
[CHICAGO, IL] – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement regarding Amtrak’s plans to relocate its current 14th Street maintenance facility to what is presently Union Pacific’s Canal Street Yard, citing concerns about the lack of constructive community engagement on the project and the impact the facility could have on the surrounding area. In August, Duckworth and Durbin requested additional information from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and Amtrak regarding the project after fielding concerns from residents and local elected officials in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood.
“Any plan to relocate the Amtrak maintenance facility should not proceed without input from local leaders and the surrounding community whose lives will be impacted by the project. The lack of community involvement and speed with which this project has moved forward raises questions about the role of private interests. While this project would bring jobs to Illinois and help Amtrak improve its maintenance operations to alleviate ongoing issues and service disruptions that impact passenger rail, productive conversations with local elected officials and the community to address their concerns must come first.”
Duckworth Demands Independent Legal Representation for Unaccompanied Immigrant Children Being Targeted in Trump’s Mass Deportation Machine | U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois
Position: Senator Duckworth opposes the Trump Administration's decision to cut federal legal aid for unaccompanied immigrant children and to have government-selected lawyers represent them in deportation proceedings. She calls for restoration of independent legal representation and due process protections for these children.
[CHICAGO, IL] – After President Trump announced plans to handpick the lawyers who would represent the children his Administration is seeking to deport, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today joined the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), advocates and families to demand that the Trump Administration reverse this heinous decision and restore the federal legal aid the President cut, which helped provide thousands of immigrant kids with independent legal representation. At the press conference, Duckworth underscored how this is just the latest cruel attempt to erode due process and strip unaccompanied immigrant children of their rights as the Trump Administration schedules hundreds of asylum interviews with little to no notice. Photos from today’s press conference can be found on the Senator’s website and the full video recording can be found on the Senator’s YouTube page.
“Robbing children of their right to due process is a new low our nation cannot stand for,” said Duckworth. “None of this is happening by accident. After detaining kids by the thousands, shutting off aid to independent legal representation and rapidly scheduling asylum interviews with no notice, Donald Trump is now vindictively seeking to handpick the government lawyers that are supposed to defend these children against his own deportation machine. This is wrong on so many levels and a clear conflict of interest. The Trump Administration must immediately reverse this decision and restore the federal legal aid these kids depend on for a fair shot in court. Children who come to our country seeking safety deserve protection, not a fast-track to deportation.”
“The danger and barriers to due process immigrant children face right now are unprecedented. First, they kept kids in detention for months on end, even when their parents were ready to care for them. Next, the Trump administration came for children’s lawyers, whose funding they terminated in August. And now, they are rushing them through court hearings and asylum interviews at an absurd pace. This is resulting in hundreds of Illinois children and teenagers being pushed into the mass deportation pipeline, right before our eyes. We are grateful to Senator Duckworth for standing with these children, and we will continue to fight for their safety and human rights,” said Cecilia Mendoza, Associate Director of Government Relations at the National Immigrant Justice Center.
In July, the Trump Administration allowed a yearslong, $200 million-a-year federal contract with the Acacia Center for Justice to lapse, cutting off independent legal services for more than 20,000 unaccompanied immigrant children nationwide through more than 100 subcontractors, including NIJC. Without federally-funded independent legal services, hundreds of unaccompanied children in Illinois facing deportation may now be forced to navigate court proceedings and asylum interviews without an attorney, making it harder to understand and exercise their legal rights.
Over the past five years, approximately 11,347 unaccompanied children have made Illinois their home. These children attend Illinois schools, have parents or caregivers in our communities and may have pending immigration cases. Last year, NIJC represented about 500 unaccompanied children in the Chicago area through the federal contract the Trump Administration cut because attorneys refused to hand over confidential client information. In the aftermath, many of these children have been forced to navigate the immigration system alone, often in a language they do not speak.
Duckworth has fiercely pushed back against the Trump Administration’s mass deportation campaign and its aggressive immigration enforcement tactics in Illinois. Alongside Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), she conducted oversight at the Broadview ICE processing center, demanded greater transparency and accountability from federal immigration agents as well as called for ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to comply with federal body camera requirements. Duckworth also referred potential constitutional violations by federal officials and agents during Operation Midway Blitz to the Department of Justice for investigation, citing reports of warrantless arrests and excessive force against Illinois residents, including U.S. citizens. Additionally, she pushed back against Trump’s threats to deploy the military and National Guard to Chicago and reintroduced legislation to protect immigrant servicemembers and Veterans from deportation, help deported Veterans return to the United States to access earned VA health care and create a pathway to citizenship through military service.
Duckworth, Sorensen Demand the Trump Administration Reinstate the Collective Bargaining Agreement of 30,000 Bureau of Prison Employees | U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois
Position: Senators Duckworth and Representative Sorensen call on the Trump Administration to comply with a federal court order reinstating the collective bargaining agreement for 30,000 Bureau of Prisons employees, arguing that workers deserve fair wages, safe conditions, and collective bargaining rights.
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Representative Eric Sorensen (D-IL-17) issued the following statement, calling out the Trump Administration and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) for failing to reinstate the collective bargaining agreement with the National Council of Prison Locals, Council 33 (CPL-33), despite a federal judge’s order requiring them to do so, stalling efforts to restore worker protections and ensure prison safety. On September 29, 2026, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction ordering the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to reinstate its national collective bargaining agreement with the union, including related amendments, supplemental agreements and memoranda of understanding, but union officials say BOP is failing to comply with the court’s order.
“Our unions help protect the workers and law enforcement officers who keep our communities safe, ensuring they have a voice on the job. These 30,000 Bureau of Prisons employees deserve fair wages, safe working conditions and the right to collectively bargain for both. A federal judge has made clear that this agreement must be reinstated, and the Trump Administration cannot simply ignore a court order because it doesn’t like the outcome. This Administration must follow the law and honor its obligations to these workers.”
On March 27, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order excluding the Department of Justice from federal collective bargaining requirements, prompting BOP to terminate its collective bargaining agreement with CPL-33 on September 25, 2025—four years before it was set to expire. The union sued on November 13, 2025, and last month, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction, finding it likely that BOP’s decision to terminate the agreement early was unlawful.
Duckworth Reacts to Army Report on DCA Crash, Reiterates Calls for FAA and DoD to Implement Urgently Needed Safety Recommendations to Prevent Next Tragedy | U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois
Position: Senator Duckworth calls for the FAA and Department of Defense to immediately implement safety recommendations from the Army and NTSB reports on the DCA collision, including mandatory collision avoidance technology on all aircraft, improved FAA-DoD coordination, modernization of air traffic control systems, and increased staffing of air traffic controllers.
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation—today released the following statement after the U.S. Army released its report that detailed numerous systemic failures leading up to the deadly DCA mid-air collision between a commercial aircraft and a Blackhawk helicopter that claimed the lives of 67 people:
“Ever since the tragic DCA midair collision stole 67 lives, the families of Flight 5342, the National Transportation Safety Board, aviation experts and I have sounded the alarm and called for action to prevent the next tragedy. This long-awaited Army investigation reaffirms what we’ve been calling for all along.
“Without delay, every aircraft must be equipped with and consistently use collision avoidance technology that is needed to see other aircraft in the sky and react in real time to keep the flying public safe. The FAA and Department of Defense must also improve coordination at all levels. And we urgently need to modernize our air traffic control system. In our modernization efforts, we need to focus on not just replacing outdated equipment but rebuilding a depleted controller workforce that has been chronically understaffed and overworked, including on that tragic night of the DCA crash when a single controller was forced to handle helicopter control and local control duties.
“As much as ever, the DCA midair collision reminds us how catastrophic the toll can be if we don’t take action. With this report out, there are simply no more excuses keeping the DoD and FAA from immediately implementing and exceeding the urgent safety recommendations handed down by both the Army and NTSB. The families who lost their loved ones that tragic day deserve action and the flying public’s safety depends on it.”
Duckworth has long been a leading voice in the push to make our skies safer. For years, she has been sounding the alarm that we must make critical aviation safety investments immediately to prevent all-too-often near-misses from becoming catastrophic tragedies. Last month, two bipartisan bills led by Duckworth and U.S. Senator John Hoeven (R-ND) to support the health of our aviation workforce and strengthen aviation safety passed the Senate with unanimous consent.
Last Congress, Duckworth chaired two CST Aviation Subcommittee hearings—one last December and the other a year prior—to address our aviation industry’s chilling surge in near-deadly close calls and underscore the urgent need to improve air traffic control systems to protect the flying public.
Duckworth helped author the landmark bipartisan FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 that was signed into law to extend the FAA’s funding and authorities through Fiscal Year 2028. The reauthorization included several of her provisions to safeguard the 1,500-hour rule, improve consumer safety, expand the aviation workforce and enhance protections for travelers with disabilities.
As USS Lincoln Returns Home, Duckworth Renews Her Call for Public Hearings to Investigate Toll of Trump’s Illegal War on Servicemembers | U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois
Position: Senator Duckworth opposes Trump's military actions against Iran and calls for public congressional hearings to investigate the impact on servicemembers' physical and mental health, including deteriorating conditions, supply shortages, and suicide attempts among deployed troops.
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – As the USS Lincoln finally returns to port today in San Diego after over 300 days at sea, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) is renewing her call for public hearings to investigate the toll that Trump’s illegal war against Iran has had on our servicemembers, including the brave troops aboard the Lincoln, other ships and across bases in the region who suffered deteriorating conditions, rationed meals and dwindling supplies. Last month after Duckworth joined SASC Ranking Member Reed and her Senate Democratic colleagues to push for answers from Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao, it was revealed that eight troops serving across the Lincoln’s strike group attempted to commit suicide—further illustrating the immense strain this reckless war has put on our servicemembers.
“Pete Hegseth likes to say ‘war is hell,’ but what happened aboard the USS Lincoln was a level of pain that could’ve been avoided. The Trump Administration just chose not to.
“Our nation’s servicemembers are as tough as they come. They will always answer the call and their families will always support them. But between rotten food, broken toilets and severe exhaustion, morale sank so low that eight servicemembers in the Lincoln’s strike group attempted suicide. That shocking number should make us all wonder how many others were experiencing severe mental health crises but stopped short of this breaking point. All of this suffering is the direct result of the Trump Administration’s incompetence and poor planning, recklessly throwing our troops into a war they have no idea how to end. And these conditions aren’t just happening on the USS Lincoln.
“The growing toll of this disastrous war on our troops is unconscionable. Republicans cannot remain complicit and allow the Trump Administration to continue hiding behind closed door briefings. It’s past time we held public hearings to investigate the extent of how badly Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth are failing our servicemembers while their families are worried sick at home. Our troops deserve better and the American people deserve the truth.”
In August, Duckworth led her fellow Senate Democrats on the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) in calling on Chairman Wicker to hold a hearing to investigate how this Administration’s failure to end Trump’s war has taken a widespread physical, emotional and mental toll on troops deployed to the region. That toll has extended even beyond the disturbing conditions aboard the USS Lincoln—with dwindling supplies and deteriorating conditions aboard numerous ships and across bases in the region. Reporting has shown how unplanned deployment extensions have inflicted emotional and financial strain on other servicemembers in the Middle East and their families, leaving troops without return dates and causing families to struggle balancing childcare with work back at home.
Also in August, Duckworth introduced legislation to stop Trump’s desperate attempt to obscure how long his illegal war against Iran has lasted, dishonor the sacrifice of our troops injured and killed in combat and hide the true cost of his disastrous war from the American people
Duckworth has been an outspoken critic of Trump’s illegal, needless war in Iran since it began. She is one of the Senate Six—the original group of Senators who have been forcing votes on War Powers Resolutions that would cease hostilities in Iran, which Republicans have shamefully blocked nine times. Duckworth also announced she would vote against the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027 (NDAA) as long as Trump’s war is ongoing.
Duckworth, Schumer, Matsui Lead Bipartisan Call Requiring FAA to Guarantee Every Emergency Medical Kit Aboard Flights Include Life-Saving Epinephrin | U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois
Position: The lawmakers oppose the FAA's proposed rule that would not require epinephrine in easily self-administered delivery methods on commercial aircraft emergency medical kits, arguing it prioritizes airline flexibility over passenger safety for those experiencing anaphylactic shock.
[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation—U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and U.S. Representative Doris Matsui (D-CA-07), Co-Chair of the Congressional Food Allergy Research Caucus, led a group of 20 bipartisan, bicameral lawmakers in calling on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to guarantee that emergency medical kits (EMK) on every commercial aircraft include epinephrine, a life-saving medication to treat passengers who go into anaphylactic shock. Today is the final day for the American people to submit public comments on the FAA’s dangerous new proposed rule that would result in medications being less consistent and dependable for passengers experiencing health emergencies on commercial flights—a severely misguided proposal that prioritizes flexibility for air carriers over the safety of the flying public.
“Without proper medications that can easily be administered on board, medical emergencies happening while 35,000 feet in the air could turn deadly,” wrote the lawmakers in their official public comment to the FAA’s proposed rule. “The provisions outlined in the FAA’s proposed rule threaten the safety of airline passengers traveling with allergies and reverse previous FAA action to ensure the safety of all passengers.”
In the landmark 2024 FAA Reauthorization Law that she co-authored, Duckworth successfully secured a provision which required the FAA to ensure commercial airlines have adequate emergency medical kits on board to treat conditions like anaphylaxis. And yet, the FAA’s proposed rule would not require them to carry epinephrine—the only medication that reliably treats this medical emergency—in delivery methods that can be easily self-administered by individuals without medical training.
Duckworth and Schumer have been pushing for years to require epinephrine designed for self-administration aboard all commercial aircraft, ever since they heard from their own constituents in 2019 who shared the life-threatening scares they experienced aboard flights that lacked this key medication and delivery method. The Senators detailed these harrowing stories in a letter to airline CEOs last month, in which they called on air carriers to ensure this life-saving medication is included in all their EMKs.
The lawmakers continued, “If a passenger is experiencing anaphylaxis, they could have mere seconds until they are unable to breathe. Without FDA-approved epinephrine delivery methods designed to be easily self-administered, passengers rely on the chance that there will be a good Samaritan on the flight who is a trained medical professional, or a flight attendant, in consultation with a medical professional on the ground, to quickly measure an appropriate dose of epinephrine using a vial and syringe. This is both risky and unnecessary; it is why the FAA’s working group recommended ‘pre-measured auto-delivery device’ be on the EMK contents list.”
In their letter, the lawmakers hammered the FAA’s proposed rule for ignoring expert recommendations, creating an even greater lack of transparency and consistency in EMKs for the flying public—who rely on EMKs during a medical emergency—and for needlessly putting the lives of commercial airline passengers at greater risk.
“To ensure the safety of all airline passengers, we must guarantee that U.S.-based airlines include FDA-approved epinephrine delivery methods designed for self-administration on every flight,” the lawmakers concluded.
In light of the FAA’s misguided and dangerous proposed rule change, Duckworth, Schumer and Matsui are calling on the FAA to heed their concerns—as well as the more than 1,500 public comments that have been submitted to express deep concern over this would-be policy failure that would place cost cutting and convenience for air carriers over the safety of the flying public.
In addition to Duckworth and Schumer, the letter is co-signed in the Senate by U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Jack Reed (D-RI) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).
In addition to Matsui, the letter is co-signed in the House by U.S. Representatives Debbie Dingell (D-MI-06), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA-01), Maxwell Frost (D-FL-10), Sylvia Garcia (D-TX-29), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ-05), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-08), LaMonica McIver (D-NJ-10), Kelly Morrison (D-MN-03) and Mike Quigley (D-IL-05).
Full text of the letter can be found below and on Senator Duckworth’s website:
We write to provide our comments on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) published on August 5, 2026, which would make drastic changes to how the FAA determines the composition of the emergency medical kit (EMK) carried aboard aircraft. The proposed rule is opaque and dangerous, and it threatens to undermine previous work the FAA has done to ensure the safety of the traveling public.
EMKs are supposed to enable initial treatment of a passenger experiencing moderate to severe injuries or illnesses until the aircraft can land and the passenger can be transferred to emergency medical personnel. Without proper medications that can easily be administered on board, medical emergencies happening while 35,000 feet in the air could turn deadly.
The proposed rule would make harmful steps to reverse work done at the agency to direct operators to include epinephrine in aircraft EMKs. Having multiple doses of epinephrine on every aircraft, in delivery methods that can be easily self-administered by individuals without medical training, is more urgent than ever. This is due to the on-flight presence of food items containing unlabeled allergens, a steady increase in the number of children with food allergies, the increased prevalence of a tick-borne illness that could create life-threatening allergies and the very real possibility that more than one passenger may require epinephrine during a single flight.
The provisions outlined in the FAA’s proposed rule threaten the safety of airline passengers traveling with allergies and reverse previous FAA action to ensure the safety of all passengers.
Our concerns about the proposed rule are outlined below:
Lack of Alignment with Previous Recommendations
The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 directed the FAA to assemble a panel of experts to make recommendations on EMKs and issue a proposed rule. The FAA Onboard Medical Kits Working Group included aerospace medicine experts and physicians, physiologists, psychologists, human factors specialists, cabin safety professionals and researchers. This working group submitted its report, dated May 1, 2025, to the FAA. The report stated:
“The items proposed … are intended to provide initial stabilizing Basic Life Support (BLS) care for immediately life-threatening conditions such as cardiac arrest, airway emergencies, major hemorrhage, and anaphylaxis (emphasis added), as well as to facilitate provision of limited basic first-aid interventions for minor injuries and illnesses that are known to occur in-flight.”
Importantly, the proposed EMK content list in the report includes both “pre-measured auto-delivery device” or “vial-drawn kit.” Yet, just one year later, the FAA publicly defied the recommendations in this report developed by the expert working group the FAA itself commissioned.
No Clear Requirement for Epinephrine
Through rulemaking, the Trump administration is seeking to downgrade the EMK content list, from a binding requirement to mere optional guidance. The proposed rule would allow operators to determine what components should be included in EMKs, so long as the EMK is “practical and sufficient” to address nine conditions, including anaphylaxis:
“…FAA recommends sufficient resources for anaphylaxis (sudden/acute severe allergic reaction), which may include the following signs and symptoms: hives; swelling of the mouth, throat, or tongue; difficulty breathing, rapid or weak pulse, dizziness; stomach pain; nausea or vomiting; or loss of consciousness. Treatment options could (emphasis added) include medication such as epinephrine.”
Epinephrine is the first-line treatment for anaphylaxis. The final rule must contain a clear directive that EMKs shall include epinephrine.
No Requirement for Epinephrine in Easily Self-Administered Forms
If a passenger is experiencing anaphylaxis, they could have mere seconds until they are unable to breathe. Without Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved epinephrine delivery methods designed to be easily self-administered, passengers rely on the chance that there will be a good Samaritan on the flight who is a trained medical professional, or a flight attendant, in consultation with a medical professional on the ground, to quickly measure an appropriate dose of epinephrine using a vial and syringe. This is both risky and unnecessary; it is why the FAA’s working group recommended “pre-measured auto-delivery device” be on the EMK contents list.
Currently, JetBlue, Southwest, Breeze and Frontier stock their EMKs with epinephrine auto-injectors, and American Airlines’ EMKs include both adult- and pediatric-dose epinephrine auto-injectors. Delta is in the process of transitioning its fleet to include auto-injectors in their EMKs by September 2027, and, this year, United Airlines and Allegiant Airlines will begin the work to include auto-injectors in EMKs. Even with tight profit margins, including epinephrine in delivery methods that can be easily self-administered, is possible. Through the rulemaking process, the FAA must direct airlines to include epinephrine in delivery methods that can be easily administered and not reverse course from its previous recommendations by abandoning the requirement to include epinephrine in EMKs in entirety.
Lack of Transparency on Compliance
The proposed rule would eliminate the exemption process, which was created to account for challenges in stocking EMKs due to drug shortages and allow airlines to substitute drugs, “without requesting an FAA exemption.” Airlines are not required to publicly or centrally report the real-time inventory and exact contents of their EMKs and have continued to operate under exemptions granted by the FAA for years. EMK suppliers and airlines can track when an EMK is opened and needs restocking, but only in instances where the kit was used. There is no means of systematically tracking incidents of allergic reactions or anaphylaxis, especially when passengers use their own epinephrine. For medical conditions that can be treated by multiple, accessible options, eliminating the need for the exemption process may make sense. However, epinephrine is the only first-line treatment for anaphylaxis. The public also deserves to know when certain items are not included in a flight’s EMK, and a rationale for the exclusion.
The proposed rule will reduce public safety and trust when flying by increasing ambiguity, subjectivity and opacity of EMK components. The proposed rule argues that increased flexibility is needed to keep up with advances in medicine but, without appropriate reporting and tracking, the Trump administration is significantly increasing the risk of major inconsistencies in EMKs from flight to flight. Predictability, consistency and transparency are all necessary to ensure passengers’ safety, particularly in cases of anaphylaxis, when minutes, or even seconds, matter.
To ensure the safety of all airline passengers, we must guarantee that U.S.-based airlines include FDA-approved epinephrine delivery methods designed for self-administration on every flight.
We call on the FAA to address the concerns outlined in this letter.
Source: GDELT 2.0 GKG, filtered to a curated list of national outlets. Inclusion is not endorsement; opinion pieces and reported news are mixed.
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Source: open-data mirrors of the Senate eFD and House Clerk financial-disclosure systems. Disclosure within 30 days of trade is required by law (45 for spouse/dependent trades).
Top PAC donors · 2026 cycle
Political action committees that gave the most to this rep's principal campaign committee this cycle. PAC giving is direct organizational support — industry, ideological, or leadership.
1.NATIONAL ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE1 contribution$5,000
2.ULLICO INC. POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE1 contribution$5,000
3.COLLEGE OF AMERICAN PATHOLOGISTS POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE1 contribution$5,000
4.ATLAS AIR WORLDWIDE HOLDINGS, INC. POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE2 contributions$5,000
5.HUMANA INC. POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEEHealth2 contributionsHealth insurance and managed-care PAC — backs candidates supporting policies favorable to HMO operations, Medicare Advantage expansion, and healthcare industry regulatory positions.AI$5,000
6.ABBVIE POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE2 contributions$5,000
8.COSTELLO FOR CONGRESS COMMITTEE2 contributions$4,000
9.AMERICAN SOYBEAN ASSOCIATION PAC (SOYPAC)2 contributions$3,500
10.STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY FEDERAL POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE (STATE FARM FEDERAL PAC)2 contributions$3,500
Source: OpenFEC (api.open.fec.gov) Schedule A receipts where contributor type is “committee.” Aggregated by contributing committee. Self-transfers from joint-fundraising / victory committees are excluded.
Top individual contributors · 2026 cycle
Itemized individual contributions over $200 to this rep's campaign committee, aggregated by donor employer. PAC giving is shown above; this section is people, not organizations.
1.SIMMONS HANLY CONROY$20,400
2.SMITH GARSON$8,000
3.HOLLAND LAW FIRM$7,250
4.HOLLAND GROVES & SCHNELLER$7,000
5.GROSVENOR CAPITAL MANAGEMENT$7,000
6.CTC$7,000
7.DELOITTE$7,000
8.CHICAGO CARES$7,000
9.DAVIS BETHUNE AND JONES$7,000
10.COONEY & CONWAY LLP$7,000
Source: OpenFEC Schedule A receipts where contributor type is “individual,” aggregated by the donor's self-reported employer. This is a geographic / industry correlation, not a corporate endorsement.
