Army veteran Sen. Tammy Duckworth blasted President Donald Trump as a "five-deferment draft dodger,” caustically dubbing him “Cadet Bone Spurs” during a Senate floor speech on the first day of a government shutdown.
CNN reported that in her remarks Saturday, the Illinois Democrat and retired Army lieutenant colonel, who lost both of her legs in an explosion in Iraq, pushed back on Trump’s tweet that charged Democrats are holding the military “hostage.”
Service members’ paychecks will be delayed until the shutdown ends.
"I spent my entire adult life looking out for the well-being, the training, the equipping of the troops for whom I was responsible, Duckworth said, CNN reported. “I will not be lectured about what our military needs by a five-deferment draft dodger.”
She also called out Trump's aggressive tweets to North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un.
"I have a message for Cadet Bone Spurs: If you cared about our military, you'd stop baiting Kim Jong Un into a war that could put 85,000 American troops — and millions of innocent civilians — in danger,” she said, CNN reported.
“You'd stop hiding behind your Twitter account, stop blaming everyone else. You would tell your party — a party that controls the House, Senate and the White House — to do their job. Stop allowing the most extreme wing of your party to prevent us from passing a long-term funding solution that the military itself — your own leaders that you nominated and appointed — is asking for.”