Article snippet: Breaking down barriers is nothing new for Sen. Tammy Duckworth, and that's the way she likes it. The decorated Iraq War veteran who lost both legs when her helicopter was shot down is an Asian-American woman in the mostly white, mostly male and very fusty Senate. And now, with a baby due in April, she'll be the first senator to give birth while in office. And so, along with her legislative and political goals, the Illinois Democrat is adding a new one: educating the tradition-bound Senate on creating a workplace that makes room for new moms. "She's been through things that you and I will probably never understand. So I'm sure for her (having a baby) is in no way daunting," said Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., who had two children while serving in Congress. "She's also someone who's had a whole career in a male-dominated world." Duckworth, who turns 50 in March, says she appreciates the historic nature of her baby's birth, as well as the fact that she represents working mothers and women having babies later in life. She fully expects to have to find a place to nurse in some quiet parlor off the Senate floor. But she says having a baby, a second daughter, is just one of many stops on the trail ahead. "This is the last job that I want," Duckworth said of the Illinois Senate seat once held by Barack Obama. The former president is one of several men she ticks off as mentors and role models. They include Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan.... Link to the full article to read more