Duckworth Highlights Key 2025 Efforts As 2025 Draws To A Close

Senator Duckworth secured $13M+ for Illinoisans from federal benefits in 2025.

Grace Christin - Office of U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth

Dec 29, 2025 4:30 PM

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – As 2025 comes to a close, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) highlighted several key accomplishments she secured over the last year:

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“Whether helping nearly 2,900 Illinoisans recover more than $13 million the federal government owed them, passing a law making it easier for new parents to travel with critical breast milk supplies, pushing back against Trump and Republicans as they work to jack up costs for everything from groceries to health care, fighting Donald Trump’s illegal and reckless invasion of our state or getting Veterans’ jobs back after this Administration cruelly fired Veterans Crisis Line workers—I’m proud of everything we’ve been able to do this past year,” Duckworth said. “While this year was far too difficult for far too many in our community, I am as committed as ever to showing up and getting things done for my fellow Illinoisans—and all those who feel targeted by the Trump Administration. I look forward to continuing my work for our state in 2026.”

Over the past year, Duckworth and her office responded to over 1,047,000 emails as well as other messages and assisted more than 2,800 Illinoisans who were experiencing difficulties navigating the federal bureaucracy, helping recover more than $13.2 million in Social Security payments, Veterans’ benefits, tax refunds and more for her constituents. A select list of Duckworth’s accomplishments from the past year is below.

Duckworth hosted a series of town halls and telephone town halls this year to hear directly from her constituents on how the Trump Administration is negatively impacting their lives and the lives of their families and communities, hearing from Illinoisans in McHenry County, Rockford, Carbondale and throughout Chicagoland.

Key Efforts:

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Duckworth’s Bipartisan BABES Enhancement Act Became Law: After passing the House and unanimously passing the Senate, bipartisan legislation authored and championed by Senator Duckworth to make it easier for parents to safely embark on air travel with breast milk and breastfeeding supplies became one of roughly 30 bills to be signed into law in 2025. Senator Duckworth’s Bottles and Breastfeeding Equipment Screening (BABES) Enhancement Act requires the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to clarify and regularly update guidance on handling breast milk, baby formula and other related nutrition products, including ice packs, in consultation with leading maternal health groups.

Fighting to Prevent Healthcare Costs from Skyrocketing: As Republicans time and again voted to gut Medicaid with Trump’s Big, Beautiful Betrayal and did nothing to stop health insurance premiums from skyrocketing, Senator Duckworth fought against these efforts at every turn. She voted against the Republicans’ Big Beautiful Bill and voted against all of Republicans’ extreme partisan funding bills. She met with health care leaders throughout Central Illinois, Southern Illinois and the Chicagoland area to discuss how these cuts will impact health care access for all Illinoisans. Trump and Republicans plunged the nation into the longest government shutdown in history to guarantee that out-of-pocket health care costs will skyrocket, refusing to negotiate an extension of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)’s enhanced premium tax credits set to expire at the end of the year. Duckworth continuously called out Republicans for refusing to help stop health insurance bills from doubling or even tripling for millions of hardworking families, including their own constituents. Then, in December, when Republicans finally had the chance to vote to extend these ACA subsidies, they chose to please Donald Trump and his billionaire buddies rather than serve the tens of millions of Americans who will see their premiums rise—or the four million who will lose coverage entirely.

Defending Reproductive Freedom and Expanding Access to IVF: Senator Duckworth has been a strong advocate for reproductive freedom and access to IVF in the face of Republicans’ anti-choice crusade. In June, she introduced the Protect IVF Act to establish a nationwide right to IVF. She has also long pushed to pass her Right to IVF Act—which Senate Republicans blocked not once, but twice last year—that would both establish a right to IVF and other assisted reproductive technology (ART), expand access for hopeful parents, Veterans and federal employees, as well as lower the costs of IVF for middle-class families across the country. This year, Duckworth successfully secured a provision in the FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act requiring TRICARE coverage of fertility services, including IVF, for servicemembers, reflecting her earlier IVF for Military Families Act. However, Speaker Mike Johnson single-handedly blocked her provision, denying troops the same IVF coverage available to Members of Congress despite broad bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate. This is the second time Duckworth secured this provision in an NDAA bill that passed committee, only to have Republicans block her amendment from the final NDAA—despite it being included in the committee-approved version.

Protecting Our State from Trump’s Unlawful Domestic Deployment: Senator Duckworth, alongside Governor Pritzker and Senator Durbin, helped lead our state’s effective pushback against the Trump Administration’s unconstitutional and dangerous deployments of National Guard troops into American cities, including Chicago. She singlehandedly secured the first and only Senate hearing on Trump’s domestic deployments, during which top Trump Defense officials admitted to three damning revelations that had never been publicly stated before. In addition to numerous actions, including visiting Naval Station Great Lakes amid threats to deploy the military to Chicago and filing an amicus brief with the Ninth Circuit against Trump for his misuse of the U.S. military, Duckworth successfully advanced her Military in Law Enforcement Accountability Act to finally help rein in Trump’s continued misuse of our military and troops.

Pushing Back on DHS’ Invasion on Chicago: In light of Trump’s “Operation Midway Blitz,” Senator Duckworth continued her efforts as an outspoken champion for defending Illinoisans and their First Amendment rights. She condemned DHS’s excessive and aggressive force, including unlawful abductions, deploying tear gas near schools and raiding community shelters. Additionally, she demanded an end to forcing law enforcement to abandon criminal investigations in order to assist ICE and called on ICE and CBP to enforce body-camera requirements in compliance with federal orders. Duckworth and Senator Durbin also visited the grounds of the Broadview ICE processing center in their congressional oversight roles.

Supporting Servicemembers and Holding Pete Hegseth Accountable for Putting Them at Needless Risk: As a combat Veteran and member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), Senator Duckworth has condemned Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s lack of experience or qualifications to lead our troops, repeatedly calling on him to resign, especially after reports confirmed he sent highly-sensitive war plans in an unclassified group chat with other Trump Administration officials, putting servicemembers at greater risk and undermining mission effectiveness. She denounced the Trump Administration’s unlawful military strikes and supported a resolution to block illegal use of force in or against Venezuela without congressional approval, while raising concerns about violating the laws of war and endangering our servicemembers and national security.

Supporting Our Veterans: After Trump fired more Veterans than any other President in history and imposed illegal pauses in federal funding and slashed Veterans’ care, Senator Duckworth continued her life’s mission of advocating for our brave servicemembers and their families affected by Trump’s recklessness. This year, she introduced legislation to protect the lifesaving Veterans Crisis Line (VCL) and restore collective bargaining rights for VA health care professionals. She demanded accountability from Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins for the VCL firings. She also introduced her Protect Veteran Jobs Act to reinstate Veterans who were fired from their jobs as part of Trump and Elon Musk’s indiscriminate purge of federal employees. Duckworth spoke at the “Unite for Veterans” rally on the National Mall, criticizing Trump for using Veterans as political pawns and undermining their care and benefits. She also hosted a Veterans town hall in Crystal Lake to hear directly from Veterans about the impact of the Trump Administration and Elon Musk’s cuts to federal programs and mass federal worker firings.