9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
When Senator Harkin was retiring,[br]and I was in the House and running for

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the Senate, he called me over and he said,[br]"Tammy, I'm handing the reins over to you."

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(laughing)

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
♪ (music) ♪

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It has just sort of fallen to me to

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
champion ADA issues, being a wheelchair user.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And then, Senator Harkin was retiring[br]and I was in the House

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and running for the Senate,[br]he called me over

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and he said,[br]"Tammy, I'm handing the reins over to you."

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(laughter) "I'm handing the torch to you.[br]You need to be the torch bearer

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and you need to really represent[br]the entire disability community

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
because you, frankly, would't be here[br]had the disability community

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
not been there[br]before you even became disabled."

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And he was absolutely right.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I find myself being the go-to person[br]on a lot of the ADA issues

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
as they come up in Congress.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
♪ (music) ♪

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I said, yes, I was honored.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I mean, to be able to be handed[br]the mantle from

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Tome Harkin is quite the honor.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And you know,[br]I don't know that I can fill his shoes,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but I try everyday to make sure[br]I do my best to represent the community,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but also to just fight for basic common--

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and this is what I did in the Army,[br]I fought for freedoms,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I fought for people's rights.[br]And this is just a basic human right,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to be able to access the life[br]that you want to access,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and live the life that you want to live

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and to be not be confronted by barriers[br]at every turn.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
♪ (music) ♪

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I have been working on burn pit issues[br]for a very long time, and it started

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
from just my own experience[br]being exposed to the burn pits in Iraq.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We used to fly into Baghdad.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(cough)

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We were stationed in Balad[br]and we would fly into Baghdad

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
into the the Green Zone.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And if you were on the ground[br]looking up, it always, just the sky,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
always just looked a little overcast.[br]It didn't look anything, you know,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
ominous, but flying through about a[br]50 foot, 100 foot layer of basically

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
brown skies, in the sky.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We used to burn the air crew's lungs[br]and you would go through there like,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Oh man, my eyes are watering,[br]my lungs are burning, and I always said

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
there was gonna be[br]some respiratory illnesses.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And then I started working on[br]Agent Orange issues within the VA,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and it was under President Obama[br]and Secretary Shinseki

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that we finally

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
granted benefits to veterans[br]based on presumptive benefits.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So, if you develop (inudible) heart[br]disease, if you develop leukemia B,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and you were in Vietnam,[br]we're going to presume that it's

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
because of your Vietnam service.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We no longer force veterans to,[br]you know, prove that their illness

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
was caused by Agent Orange,[br]which is presumed.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And then, so that really started me[br]working on burn pits

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
after we were successful[br]with the Agent Orange campaign.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And so it's pretty much been[br]continuous ever since, and I'm really glad

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
we got the contract passed.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
There's more work to do,[br]but it's a great, great, great, great,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
first start.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
♪ (music) ♪