Her top priority, Blagojevich declared, was to step up efforts to sign people up for the state's fledgling Veterans Care program, an initiative aimed at providing affordable and comprehensive health coverage to "thousands of Illinois veterans."
At its high-water mark during her tenure, however, the program averaged fewer than 100 veterans enrolled, state records showed.
Now Duckworth is pointing to her work assisting veterans as a big reason voters should promote her from the U.S. House to the Senate as she challenges Republican Sen. Mark Kirk.
A Chicago Tribune examination of Duckworth's record after a decade in public service shows several of her initiatives at the state VA fell flat, her subsequent post at the federal VA mostly focused on public relations and her two terms in Congress have been marked by only a few legislative successes.
In an interview, Duckworth defended her record and said she made achievements where she could.
Indeed, she started a state mental health hotline for suicidal veterans, helped ensure an Illinois Lottery "Veterans Cash" game provided millions of dollars for veterans programs and established a program to screen vets returning from overseas for traumatic brain injuries. She increased the online profile for the federal VA and, in Congress, worked on legislation that ended up cutting wasteful federal spending and co-wrote a measure to provide veterans with greater and quicker access to mental health care.
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