Commission to Study the Potential Creation of a National Women's History Museum Act

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous materials on the subject of our Special Order hour.

Mr. Speaker, this month is Women's History Month, and the Congressional Black Caucus is pleased to come during this Special Order hour to bring attention to the important issues that particularly face women this month, but we shouldn't be fighting for equality just 1 month out of the year.

It is a constant effort. We are here tonight to encourage everyone to get engaged in making equality a reality.

As President Obama made clear during his State of the Union Address, when women succeed, America succeeds. So tonight, we, the Congressional Black Caucus, gather to discuss the ways in which we can help women succeed, rather than continuing to turn back the clock on women's rights.

I am pleased to start this hour with our chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, the person who brings these issues forward each and every day on behalf of her constituents in Ohio and on behalf of constituents all across America, the gentlelady from Ohio, Representative Fudge.

I thank the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus for your dynamic leadership as the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. It has been my honor to serve with you this legislative Congressional session and look forward to the many achievements ahead on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Mr. Speaker, so much of the focus tonight is on the history that women contribute to our great Nation. We have many dynamic women who serve in our delegation in the House of Representatives. It is part of that representation that ensures that these issues that are important to women, as they are important to all Americans, are brought forward.

We have none other than a champion for women in her district in the northern part of California, but also around the world. She is someone who needs no introduction because she brings so much experience and education and knowledge to these issues. I would like to yield now to the gentlelady from California, Representative Barbara Lee.

Thank you to the gentlelady from California. Thank you for that great historical overview and perspective and for bringing those profound remarks to the floor this evening.

I would also like to yield to a dynamic colleague. We have had the great honor and privilege to get to know each other as freshmen in this congressional session. She is the gentlelady from Ohio. She brings so much talent and perspective, energy and focus to the issues that she works on here in the House of Representatives on behalf of her constituents and those around the country. I would like to yield now to the gentlelady from Ohio, Representative Joyce Beatty.

I thank the gentlewoman from Ohio, Representative Joyce Beatty, for those illuminating topics that were covered, and for highlighting all the various ways, both historically and currently, that women make a huge impact in our society, in the home, in the workplace, in education, and throughout all aspects of life. So thank you, Representative Beatty, for your ongoing contributions to these important issues.

I am so proud to be joined here by the Representative from New York (Mr. Jeffries), my coanchor of this hour. I look forward to his remarks.

I want to also highlight in addition to all of the national leaders and women who have run for office, whether it be here in the House of Representatives, in the Senate, or as President, we also have many unsung women who toil everyday but who make a huge impact.

It is only fitting, Mr. Speaker, that during Women's History Month that I recognize a Nevada leader, an icon, Ms. Ruby Duncan, who is an inspiration in my home State to many.

Ruby to me is the personification of the word fight. She is someone we can all learn from each and every day. Her history is a lesson in never giving up and staring down the specter of inequality. Nothing was ever handed to her, but much was taken.

Ruby's life began in the middle of the Great Depression. Where she grew up in rural Louisiana, people were already poor for a long time. Ruby had three brothers and a sister, all but one passing from accidents or illnesses. She lost her parents before she was 4. She spent most of her youth moving around Tallulah, living with relatives.

The school that she attended, a school for Black children, was located in a church miles from home. There was no transportation. She walked every day until she left school after the ninth grade for full- time work. Actually, it was more than full-time work. For years she was a waitress making about $9.50 a week. Yes, that's right, $9.50 a week. Her work weeks were long, over 80 hours a week.

When she heard her aunt in Las Vegas was making $40 for similar work, she moved there. When she arrived, she discovered her aunt living in a cardboard shack in the desert, sharing a community wash house with others. She discovered a de facto segregated community there, separate schools, housing, and zoning in the community resulted in a system of clear disenfranchisement.

Blacks were not welcome at the Las Vegas Strip hotels. There were colored sections designated in movie theaters. Still, Ms. Ruby Duncan persevered. She survived. She did day work as a maid in homes around the area. In 1959 she worked as a hotel maid but was fired later for attempting to organize other maids to protest the inhumane treatment and workload.

For a while her only income for herself and her children was the aid to dependent children grant that she received from the State welfare system. Like those struggling today, she did not rest. She was not lazy; she worked. She searched for work and was hired in the pantry of one of the Strip hotels in Las Vegas.

After an accident, she learned she could no longer do the heavy work that she was performing. When a State program that was supporting her was cut, she was contacted to join a group of mothers going up to Carson City, our State's capital, to protest substandard grants from the Nevada Legislature.

Ruby marched and spoke at a hearing with no prior experience in public speaking. She did it because someone had to say something for those who were struggling. Someone had to stand up for what was right.

After Mrs. Duncan's trip to Carson City, she was elected president of the Clark County Welfare Rights Organization. As president, she led the nationally publicized 1971 marches on the Las Vegas Strip, protesting the purge of thousands of needy Nevada families from programs designed to help the poor and allow them to keep their heads above water.

From that she has fought to provide basic necessities to families in need--food, shelter, health services, and education. Her organization that she created, Operation Life, has had an impact on health screening centers, libraries, food programs for women, infants and children, child care, and the list goes on.

Ruby Duncan represents hope. In a country plagued by inequality and discrimination of the worst forms, Ruby fought and won many decisive battles that affect the lives of so many in Nevada and across this Nation today.

Not everyone wins their battle with poverty. For so many, circumstances beyond their control take over their lives. For many born poor, they stay poor. For many born just above the poverty line, they dip below and enter a cycle of living paycheck to paycheck, if they can even find one.

The poor are not poor because of a weak character. They are not lazy. Many are poor because no one ever gave them a chance. It is people like Ruby Duncan that I am here to represent. The people who had less than a hand up, but they still persevered. She is strong, and she is an inspiration to me, and someone who I wanted to recognize during this recognition of Women's History Month. Congratulations to Ms. Ruby Duncan.

I would now like to yield to the coanchor for this hour, my colleague, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Jeffries). It is always great to be here with you, to bring this hour of power of information to the constituents throughout the United States who are listening. I thank you for your friendship, for always working hard, for including me, and it is great to serve with you in this 113th Congress.

I yield to my good friend.

I thank the gentleman from New York. Thank you for

that very insightful background on your district and the leadership of the district. It speaks to why there is so much impact that comes from Representatives from your district and the area and the neighborhoods that you represent.

I know that you cannot fully fill those shoes, but you are doing your part in bringing forward the message that so many others carried and that we follow now on their shoulders, so thank you for that historical perspective.

In addition to the historical perspective that women offer in this country, the House Democrats also have a legislative agenda that focuses on when women succeed, America succeeds. It is an economic agenda for women, and it is one that was created by the women in the House Democratic Caucus that is sponsored and supported by men.

As a man, I support this economic agenda for women because, as a husband and a father, I want for every woman what I want for my own wife and my daughter. As a brother and a son, I want for other women what I want for my two sisters and my mother. So this economic agenda for women focuses on a number of areas.

The first, of course, is equal pay for equal work. It is appalling, Mr. Speaker, that in the year 2014, we are still struggling to pay women the wages that they deserve. They are still not receiving equal pay for equal work. That, on its face, is wrong.

Women in my home State of Nevada are paid about 85 cents for every dollar paid to men; and while that is better than the 77-cent national average, we still have a long, long way to go.

As my colleagues have already explained, for African American women and Latinas, this pay gap is even larger. African American women, on average, earn only 64 cents; and Latinas, on average, earn only 55 cents for every dollar earned by White, non-Hispanic men.

In my home State of Nevada, the pay gap between men and women is, on average, $6,316 per year. Now, that is real money, and it makes a real impact in the lives of families. Nevada women lose approximately $2 billion per year because of this wage gap.

Now, what can $6,316 pay for, for families in my home State of Nevada?

$6,316 is about 46 more weeks of food. $6,316 per year is 4 more months of mortgage and utility payments. $6,316 per year is 7 months of rent. $6,316 per year is an additional 1,681 gallons of gas.

So if we thought that the wage gap was just some rhetoric that was being talked about out there, all you have to look at is the real impact of lost economic benefit to women. If we closed the wage gap between men and women, we could cut the poverty rate in half for working women and their families.

It is the right thing to do, to treat people equally, to pay them equal pay for equal work. That is why 125,000 households in Nevada, who are headed by women, expect this Congress to support the Paycheck Fairness Act, invest in job training and educational opportunities, and make sure that we protect pregnant workers from discrimination in the workplace.

Now, another area that we have to address is raising the minimum wage and giving America a raise.

Mr. Speaker, low-income workers continue to struggle to provide for their families, while the rich continue to make record profits in the millions.

It is important to remember who earns the minimum wage in this country. They are women. Women make up the majority of low-income workers. In fact, nearly two-thirds of minimum wage workers are women. These are our mothers. They are our sisters and our daughters.

Can we really expect for women to provide for their families when they are making the minimum wage?

Let's talk about what $7.25 really means as a national wage for women. That is $14,500 a year. Can people really survive on $14,500 a year?

Particularly, more than a majority now of women who are the head of their household, the primary breadwinners, can they provide for themselves and their families on $14,500 a year?

That is why House Democrats, in this economic agenda for women--when women succeed, America succeeds--we understand that by lifting the Federal minimum wage to $10.10, that if it were adjusted for inflation, compared to what it was in the 1960s, it would be well past time, Mr. Speaker, to address this pay gap for women.

In addition to increasing the minimum wage to help 1 in 3 adult women who are currently living in poverty or on the brink of it, this would help lift those women out of poverty, helping 30 million Americans see an increase in their wage, a million Americans being lifted out of poverty.

These are the real impacts and the benefits on the economic agenda for women.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to my colleague, Mr. Jeffries, to elaborate further on these points, and then I can close us out.

I thank the gentleman, my coanchor, for joining me this hour.

Mr. Speaker, as we come to a close, to just highlight some of the major reasons why the Congressional Black Caucus along with the House Democrats believe that, if we are really going to honor the role of women in this country, then we need to start by honoring them through equal pay. We need to honor them through an economic agenda that supports their needs and the needs of their families.

And as my colleagues have already ably laid out, women now make up half--47 percent--of the general workforce and some 62 percent of the minimum wage workforce, which is up from about 30 percent in the 1950s. Twelve percent of workers in the United States have access to paid family leave through their employers, and fewer than 40 percent have access to personal medical leave through employer-provided short-term disability insurance.

So one of the other cornerstones, in addition to giving women equal pay for equal work, for increasing the minimum wage, is providing a work-family balance by allowing women to be able to take off work when necessary to care for a loved one without losing their earnings and a paycheck.

Laws providing paid family leave and medical leave allow workers to continue to earn a portion of their pay while they take time away from work to address serious health conditions, including pregnancy, to care for a family member with a serious health condition, and to care for a newborn, newly adopted child or a newly placed foster child.

You know, we should be encouraging the growth of strong, healthy families. And so often my colleagues on the other side talk about family values. Well, if you won't pass legislation that allows workers to spend time with their families, then what kind of a family value is that?

Over the average lifetime of a woman, by the age of 65, they will have lost $431,000 because of the earnings gap. That is something that the House Democrats, along with the Congressional Black Caucus, are working to address. We have legislation, When Women Succeed, America Succeeds, the economic agenda for women that we have laid out here tonight that would close this earnings gap, provide women the support they need to make more, helping their families and helping our economy as a whole.

So in closing, Mr. Speaker, when we talk about Women's History Month, we hope that it will resonate in this Chamber and in the Halls here in Washington that the decisions that we make impact the lives of all of our constituents. And it is time that women have a fair shot to the full opportunity that this country has to offer, and it starts by providing them with the earnings that they deserve. This is good not only for that woman and her future, but it is good for the family as a whole.

As I said earlier, I want for every woman what I want for my wife and my daughter: to be able to have the same opportunities and to be treated the same way as a man is treated in this country. I want for every woman what I want for my two sisters and my mother: to have the same equal opportunities to pursue their dreams and to be paid the same for pursuing that dream.

So these are the issues that we have laid out tonight, Mr. Speaker. We look forward to continuing to work with our colleagues on the other side. We would like to thank the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Representative Fudge, and all of the members of the CBC and those who were able to speak tonight. When women succeed, Mr. Speaker, America succeeds.

I yield back the balance of my time.

I thank the gentlelady for giving

that overview of the wonderful contributions of women from the great State of Tennessee, and I think it really is historic that the birthplace of the movement for the women's right to vote began in New York and really was completed in the great State of Tennessee. How historic is that?

I must say that the great men who built this Nation and shaped our society did not do it alone. I want to tell you about some of the women from the great State of New York.

First, I would like to speak about one of my mentors, a great friend, a great leader, Geraldine Ferraro, whose run for Vice President inspired me and countless other women who followed her into office.

As a young woman, she demonstrated her extraordinary capacity for hard work and dedication by skipping three grades and graduating high school at the age of 16. After college, she taught second grade in New York public schools and put herself through Fordham Law School at night.

After her children were born, she spent 13 years as a homemaker, after which she did something that was unusual at the time: she went back to work as an attorney in the Special Victims Bureau of the New York District Attorney's Office.

Later on, she ran for Congress and became an outstanding Member representing Queens, New York. During her three terms in Congress, Ferarro became known as a strong advocate for her district and for issues such as protecting Medicare and Social Security.

Then, in 1984, she literally made history when she became the first female candidate for a major party for Vice President. She is a symbol of the possibility that women could achieve their dreams, break the glass ceiling, and aspire to the highest realm in their chosen profession.

Ferraro is the type of woman I hope inspires my daughters just as she inspired me. Her life is the story girls and boys should hear when they come to our Nation's Capitol, but too often the stories of women are swept under the rug and not remembered. That is why we need this museum.

But Geraldine Ferraro would not have had the opportunity to be such an important trailblazer without the hard work of some of the amazing New York suffragettes: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucretia Mott. Their statue is in the rotunda of the Capitol, and it was a bill of Connie Morella's and mine to move the women out of the basement into the rightful living room of the Capitol with the country's other great revolutionary leaders.

Stanton met Mott in 1840 when they both were refused seats at the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London on account of their sex. It was there that they first discussed the need for a convention to address the condition of women in the United States. This led to the first women's rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York, which was attended by Anthony. Together, they championed the National American Woman Suffrage Association, dedicating their lives to achieving equality and the right to vote for women.

The activist work of Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucretia Mott are the roots under the women's movement in this country. None of them lived to see women gain the right to vote, but it would have been literally impossible without their hard work and dedication. They literally dedicated their lives working daily to raise awareness, build coalitions, and to pass the 19th Amendment.

Without their dedication to women's rights, Alice Paul, the author of the Equal Rights Amendment, would not have been inspired to secure a woman's right to vote. Alice Paul, incidentally, was a relative of my late husband, Clifton Maloney, from the great State of New Jersey. Without their dedication, I would not have been inspired to continue the work on the amendment to our Constitution which we coauthored to ensure equality for women and men in all areas of society.

But there are also countless women whose work has had a tremendous impact on our lives and in our communities. For all intents and purposes, they have been forgotten.

Nellie Bly was one of the most influential journalists of the 19th century. She pioneered the field of investigative journalism at a time when our Nation was rapidly undergoing industrialization. She also emulated the voyage of Mr. Fogg, Jules Verne's character made famous in the classic novel, ``Around the World in 80 Days.'' But Bly pointed out, however, that he made the trip in 72 days.

While working for Joseph Pulitzer's The New York World, Bly went undercover and feigned insanity to report on the deplorable conditions of the Blackwell Island insane asylum. She exposed the horrific physical and emotional cruelty she had seen patients endure. Her work caused an uproar in New York, resulting in more money to help people with mental illnesses and a change in care for the people in the asylum. Bly's work helped open the profession to future generations of women journalists who wanted to write hard news rather than the light features in society columns.

Lillian Wald, another great New Yorker, was a progressive-era reformer setting the standards for modern social work and community nursing. She left medical school in the 1890s to work with poor immigrant families on New York's Lower East Side and founded the Henry Street Settlement, which still serves New Yorkers, and Visiting Nurse Services, which still serves our country and which continues to offer health care and social services to the needy.

Wald tirelessly campaigned for the rights of women and minorities and undertook some amazing humanitarian efforts to improve our country helping to found the United States Children's Bureau, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and the NAACP. The New York Times nominated her as one of the 12 greatest living American women in 1922, and she later received the Lincoln Medallion for her work as an outstanding citizen of New York.

There are untold numbers of women like those that I have mentioned who have made great contributions to this Nation. In addition to learning about their specific contributions, we are only now gaining a full understanding of how civilization evolves through the power of feminine values and women's enduring traditions.

Nowhere can one find a place for all of these contributions and traditions in one place. That is what we want to accomplish for women. I want to note that there are numerous museums in and around The Mall. We have museums for stamps. We have museums for law and order and for space. We have the great Smithsonian. We have museums for African Americans. We have museums for Indian Americans, and we have museums for the media--the important media. We have over 22 different museums right in this area, but not one is focusing on the valid and incredibly important contributions of women.

They say women hold up half the sky, but where do you find it? It is not in the history books. It is not in the museums. It is nowhere to be found. Now, if all these other museums had sections focused on the contributions of women, maybe we wouldn't need this museum. But they don't.

As my daughter used to say when I would read stories to her at night, she would say: Mommy, Mommy, why aren't there any stories about girls? Why are all the stories about boys? Can't you read me a story about girls? We don't focus on the contributions of women. There is a woman who rode longer and farther than Paul Revere, and nobody even knows her name. Let's build this museum and talk about her contributions, too.

If we and future generations are to learn all the lessons of the past upon which to build a future, we must be aware of the true experiences, the hardships, the successes, and the contributions of women.

I have here some people I feel deserve to be in that museum:

Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, one of the first elected to serve in the State legislature, an outstanding attorney;

Eleanor Roosevelt, from the great State of New York, an outstanding First Lady who helped so many;

Rosa Parks, who was tired and decided not to give her seat to a White and started an entire civil rights movement that literally changed this country and the opportunities for all people; and

Sally Ride, the great astronaut who went into space.

We don't really chronicle the women scientists and the explorers, all these incredibly important women.

Marsha, I know--I know--that we would not have these hearings and we would not have the momentum--we have over 84 cosponsors of our bill now. This would not have happened without your hard work and your leadership. I know she has been reaching out to her colleagues that chair these committees, to the leadership of the majority and others to move this effort forward and to gain momentum. So on behalf of the women I am privileged to represent, I want to thank you for all of your hard work. It is historic.

A National Museum for Women's History

(By Rep. Renee Ellmers, R-NC)

Throughout history, conservative women have impacted our

nation's future and become an important voice in our

democratic republic. We have proven ourselves as pioneers,

innovators, leaders and decision-makers. We have created and

contributed to many aspects of history--be it agriculture,

medicine, politics, philosophy, science, and art. We have

touched countless lives and shaped history, yet rarely does

society teach, recognize or display our contributions--and it

is time for this to change. In an effort to change this, I

have joined my colleagues in advocating to establish the

National Women's History Museum (NWHM) in Washington D.C.

Young women deserve a space to call their own--a physical

space they can visit to hear and read about those who came

before them and changed history. We need a tangible place

that encourages our girls to wonder, to feel empowered, and

to inquire about the people who fought to provide them with

the freedom and opportunities they enjoy today. We need to

share the stories of the strong women who have shaped our

past and present so that young girls can learn the true

meaning of perseverance and courage. There are too many women

whose achievements have gone unrecognized and too many women

whose efforts have been underappreciated. With such a vibrant

history, it is a shame that we have yet to formally establish

a museum dedicated to honoring their accomplishments.

However, we are making strides.

This past December, my friend Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-

Tenn.) sponsored legislation with Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-

N.Y.) to create a commission that would recommend site

locations and funding for the NWHM. This bill would have no

additional cost for taxpayers, as the commission would be

entirely paid for without federal funds. Information gathered

by the commission would then be relayed to both the president

and Congress. This past December, Reps. Blackburn and Maloney

testified before the House Committee on Administration to

relay the importance of establishing this commission. Joan

Wages, president and CEO of the National Women's History

Museum, an organization dedicated to establishment of the

museum, also testified. Yet, nearly four months later, there

has been no movement on this bill. With more than 82

bipartisan co-sponsors in the House, 19 in the Senate, and a

plethora of national women's groups supporting the bill,

there is no excuse for this inaction.

As one of only 19 Republican women in the House of

Representatives, I see firsthand how our underrepresentation

can impact our future opportunities. But as we continue to

increase our ranks, our daughters need an environment to

learn about the conservative heroes who made this possible--

women like Jeanette Rankin, Sandra Day O'Connor and

Condoleezza Rice. These women have earned their place in

history, and our girls should have every opportunity to study

them and feel inspired by their contributions.

If there were a museum that honored and proudly displayed

our history, perhaps more women would be encouraged to run

for political office, to seek out top-tier leadership

positions, or to launch a new business. By establishing the

NWHM on the National Mall, the notion of conservative women

holding office could become less of a rarity and more of the

norm.

As Republican women, we must continue to demonstrate that

conservative principles--like fiscal responsibility,

individual liberty, and a strong defense--are values worth

pursuing. We need to make women's history a part of

mainstream society. We need to have our story told, and we

need to lead the way for other young conservative women.

Let's honor our mothers and daughters by providing them with

a place to learn and feel inspired. Let's establish the

National Women's History Museum in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman, my good friend from the Silver State, Representative Steven Horsford, for his tremendous leadership in anchoring the CBC's Special Order and for the tremendous advocacy that you have consistently provided to the people of the congressional district you so ably serve back at home in Nevada and indeed to people all across this country.

It has been an honor and a privilege to serve as a coanchor during this CBC Special Order, this hour of power where for 60 minutes members of the Congressional Black Caucus have an opportunity to speak directly to the American people about an issue of great relevance.

Today as you have heard, we today stand here on the floor of the House of Representatives to celebrate the role that women have played throughout

the tapestry of the American people from the beginning of the Republic to where we stand right now in 2014.

Representative Barbara Lee spoke moments earlier about the Women's History Month theme, involving courage, character, and commitment. As I reflected upon that theme, several individuals came to mind. Certainly when it comes to courage, I think no one meets that threshold in American history perhaps more than the great Harriet Tubman, a conductor on the underground railroad.

Harriet Tubman is someone who displayed tremendous courage throughout her time here in this country. She was known for having a Bible in one hand and a gun in the other. Harriet Tubman freed herself from slavery.

At that point, after settling in New York State she could have simply gone on to try and live out her life with relative tranquility, having escaped the harshness of human subjugation down in the Southern part of this country.

Instead, Harriet Tubman, we know as history records, went back down South an additional 19 times and freed more than 200 Black slaves, risking her life, her well-being, her freedom each and every time she crossed the Mason-Dixon line to try and liberate those who were subjected to slavery in this country.

What is interesting about that life story and the courage that Harriet Tubman displayed, the selflessness and the sacrifice as this prominent conductor on the underground railroad, stations exist in the district that I currently represent in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, at the Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church.

What was tremendous about Harriet Tubman is that later on in life she was apparently asked about her heroics, the sacrifice, the selflessness, the courage, the willingness to risk life and limb to free others after she had already liberated herself. She made an observation that has always stuck with me. Harriet Tubman said: I could have freed more, if they only knew that they were slaves. I could have freed more if they only knew that they were slaves.

That suggests to me that sometimes people who find themselves in life in a certain station and notwithstanding their talents or their ability, the fact that someone has put before them a pathway towards success, an opportunity to move forward in pursuit of the American Dream, that there is something that constrains them and keeps them standing in place.

I have always looked to those words of Harriet Tubman and the great heroism that she displayed as a source of tremendous inspiration and something that should inspire all Americans--Black, White, Latino, Asian, men and women, older Americans, younger Americans--like courage, character and commitment. I certainly think in terms of courageousness you can find no one who had that quality in greater abundance than of course Harriet Tubman.

Now, Representative Lee also referenced Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm. I stand here today proud of the fact that I represent many of the neighborhoods that Congresswoman Chisholm once represented in this Congress.

She was elected in 1968 and became the first African American woman ever elected to the House of Representatives in the history of this great Republic, served seven terms, 14 distinguished years. She retired in 1982. At which point, there were parts of her district that were subsequently represented by Congressman Ed Towns, who served for 30 years in the Congress and whom I had the opportunity to replace.

Then there were other parts of her district subsequently represented by Congressman Major Owens, who served for 26 years and who Congresswoman Yvette Clarke subsequently represented.

For a great while there was a tremendous debate as to who actually held the legacy of Shirley Chisholm's seat. Well, I think Congresswoman Clarke and I worked it out. She was such a tremendous Member of the House that it actually takes two Members of Congress to replace her. I proudly acknowledge that I serve in one of the two Shirley Chisholm legacy seats here in the House of Representatives.

Of course when she got elected in 1968 there were some folks in this Chamber not used to seeing an African American woman, with very prominent hair, who was ``Unbought and Unbossed,'' and comes into this Chamber. Tradition says that she was assigned by the Speaker then to the agricultural committee as a punitive measure, because obviously in this urban district that she represented it seems to a lot of folks that appointment to the agricultural committee would not necessarily be the committee of relevant jurisdiction for the issues that she was elected to Congress to fight for.

Shirley Chisholm took that assignment and quickly recognized that while in this country you had surplus, abundance of food that was being created, you also had a lot of hungry folks, many of whom lived in the district that she represented.

So she began to work on expanding the food stamp program and championed, in fact, increasing supplemental nutritional assistance to at-risk, expectant mothers and helped lead the charge in the House of Representatives for the Women, Infants, and Children supplemental nutritional assistance program.

She partnered with then-Senator Bob Dole, who was over on the other side of this Capitol. She took what was meant as a punitive assignment and turned it into something transformative for the people that she represented, as well as those across the country.

So, from a character and a commitment standpoint, she demonstrated, again, that there is opportunity in the face of adversity. That is what she did here on the floor of the House of Representatives.

Earlier today, the League of Women Voters acknowledged Shirley Chisholm for her accomplishments in the district that I represent, in fact, in the Shirley Chisholm State Office Building that I was proud to have authored the legislation, when I was in the New York State Assembly, that transformed that Kings County State Office Building into one named on behalf of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm.

We stand on the shoulders of a lot of giants, but I certainly acknowledge that I am standing on the shoulders of Representative Shirley Chisholm, as so many folks are all across the city, the State of New York, and certainly this country. She inspired generations of people to believe what was possible.

I was talking to one of the women who, in the seventies, began to work closely with Congresswoman Chisholm, and she explained to me that Shirley Chisholm was such a forceful personality that her group of young women who, in the seventies, she would work closely with, that they were called Shirley Chisholm and the Chisettes.

Sounds to me like a Motown group, but these were transformative individuals, Shirley Chisholm and the Chisettes, who believed, perhaps back then, that when women succeed, America succeeds, and understood that there was still work that needed to be done to shatter the glass ceilings that had been erected all across this country.

Shirley Chisholm did just that in 1972, when she ran for the Democratic nomination for the United States Presidency. What I find fascinating is that her theme at that point was ``catalyst for change.''

In many ways, this was a prophetic theme, ``catalyst for change,'' because she was that catalyst for a whole lot of things that were to have occurred decade after decade, when she made that first run for office.

As has been mentioned on the floor of the House of Representatives, many could argue that there would not be a President Barack Obama had Shirley Chisholm not taken that bold step forward in 1972.

We have a whole lot of things, of course, that still need to be addressed, and I look forward to dealing with some of those issues.

As has been pointed out, women simply make 77 cents for every dollar that a man makes in America, and that hurts our overall economic productivity because 40 percent of the households in this country, women are the predominant primary breadwinner.

So we have got some economic issues to work out to continue the work that had been done by so many in this country, Shirley Chisholm included, and I look forward to continuing that discussion with Congressman Steven Horsford.

I want to thank my distinguished colleague for his comprehensive presentation as it relates to the economic trauma that many women find themselves in, given the pay disparities that continue to exist in America.

Mr. Speaker, the President came to the House of Representatives earlier this year to deliver a State of the Union Address and pointed out the fact that women, of course, make 77 cents for every dollar that a man makes and indicated the outrageousness of that in modern-day America.

It is a moral outrage, and for that reason alone, we should seek corrective action by moving forward with the Paycheck Fairness Act here in the Congress.

But aside from it being a moral outrage, as Congressman Horsford has pointed out, it has economic consequences. Because 40 percent of households in America are headed by women as the primary breadwinners, if you have such a significant portion of households led economically by individuals who are receiving disparate pay, you are hurting American families.

Now, one of the ways in which we can remedy this situation, of course, is to move forward with H.R. 1010, the minimum wage increase legislation authored in the House of Representatives by Congressman George Miller, cosponsored, of course, by Congressman Horsford, myself and many other Democratic Members of the House of Representatives.

We are of the view that both America needs a raise and women in America need a raise. 66 percent of minimum wage earners in this country are women.

Now, the minimum wage in America right now, the floor that is set by Congress, $7.25 an hour, means that someone can work 40 hours a week, each and every week throughout the year, go to work, and still fall below the Federal poverty line in attempting to raise a family. That is disgraceful, the classic definition of working poor, and it should not exist.

I thought the American ideal was that if you get up for work, you work hard, you punch the clock, that at the end of the day, there should be a pathway toward meaningful success in the context of the American Dream.

Right now, we have got a minimum wage that keeps individuals trapped in poverty, and the overwhelming majority of those individuals are women in America. So when we talk about an agenda that we have put forth--when women succeed, America succeeds--that is not just hyperbole or something designed to make folks feel good. It is an economic reality. That is why we are so committed to that agenda.

We are committed to making sure that child care in America is affordable because of the fact that so many women, thankfully, are part of the workforce; but as a result of their participation in the workforce, they need to find affordable, quality child care for their children.

That is one of the things that we, as House Democrats, continue to try and put forth, and we are just hopeful that our friends on the other side of the aisle will realize that moving forward with an agenda that uplifts women in America honors the great contributions of women in this country, decade after decade, century after century, from the founding of the Republic; but more significantly, will empower women and, in doing so, empower America to continue to forge forward into the future as the greatest Nation in the world.

So I am thankful to my colleague for his leadership tonight in connection

with this Special Order, and I look forward to continuing to work on a progressive Congressional Black Caucus agenda for women, for men, for America, and for our future.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, the National Women's History Museum has a rightful place in our Nation's Capital, and it is very appropriate that we are considering this legislation the week of Mothers' Day.

I believe we should all be able to agree that, when our children and their children visit our Nation's Capital, they should be inspired by the stories of the men and women who helped shape this country. Sadly, today, that is not the case.

Women's contributions to our country are largely missing from our national museums, memorials, statues, and textbooks. The bill before us today seeks to finally change that.

It would be the first National Women's History Museum in Washington and the first in the United States of Americas and, I believe, the first in the entire world that would chronicle the important contributions of American women to America.

H.R. 863 would create a bipartisan, eight-person commission to develop a plan and recommendations for a National Women's History Museum in our Nation's Capital.

The commission, which would be funded entirely with private donations, would have 18 months to submit its

recommendations to Congress and the President.

Congress will then have to consider these recommendations, and a second bill would be needed to support the establishment of a women's museum, so the bill before us enables a commission to study this and for Congress, then, to react to their proposals.

Now, I would like to stress that this has been a very strong, bipartisan effort. I am proud to have worked on this bill with Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn, who has been a wonderful partner and has done so much to get us where we are today. She has been outstanding.

Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton has been a great champion of this effort for years, along with Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis and many, many other Members from both parties whose support has been absolutely essential.

I would like to thank Speaker Boehner, Democratic Leader Pelosi, Majority Leader Cantor, and Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer for their support as well.

Thank you to the leadership and members of the House Administration and Natural Resources Committee for ushering this legislation through their committees with unanimous support, Congressmen Brady and Miller and Congressmen DeFazio and Hastings.

We are all working on this together because we believe that ensuring our country's full story is told, not just half of it, is part of our patriotic responsibility that rises above party lines, and we are working hard to make sure that this is a bill that can be supported by Members of both parties.

As I mentioned, no public funds would be used to support this commission, and the commission is required to consider a plan for the museum to be constructed and operated by private funds only. No taxpayer dollars will be involved.

Most importantly, neither this bill nor the commission it would create would set the content of this museum. That part will come later, after Congress acts on the commission's recommendations and the museum is finally established.

One could imagine a museum featuring original women thinkers ranging from Ayn Rand, who authored ``Atlas Shrugged,'' to Mary Whiton Calkins. Ms. Rand, I suspect you may know about her, but you may not have heard of Ms. Calkins.

She was born in 1863 and studied at Harvard, under the influential American philosopher, William James, who believed her Ph.D. to be the most brilliant examination for a Ph.D. that he had ever seen; but Mary was not granted a degree because, at that time, Harvard had a policy against conferring degrees on women.

Despite the setback, she went on to become a charter member of the American Philosophical Association and the first woman president of the American Psychological Association.

But most people have never heard of her or her accomplishments because when the story of America has been told, the story of many remarkable women has all too often been left out.

Currently in the Nation's Capital and near The Mall or on The Mall, there is an Air and Space Museum, a Spy Museum, a Textile Museum, a National Postal Museum, even a Crime and Punishment Museum and a media museum. These are all wonderful, enriching institutions that are destinations for millions of visitors every year. But there is no museum in the country that shows the full scope of the history of the amazing, brilliant, courageous, innovative, and sometimes defiant women who have helped to shape our history and make this country what it is.

Even though women make up 50 percent of the population, a survey of 18 history textbooks found that only 10 percent of the individuals identified in the texts were women; less than 5 percent of the 2,400 National Historic Landmarks chronicle the achievements of women; and of the 210 statues in the United States Capitol, only nine are of female leaders.

As an example, while nearly every high school student learns about the midnight ride of Paul Revere, how many of them learn about Sybil Ludington? She is the 16-year-old whose midnight ride to send word to her father's troops that the British were coming was longer than Paul Revere's, just as important, and, in many ways, was even more remarkable. But her ride has been long forgotten.

On display in our Capitol Rotunda is a statue of three courageous women who fought so hard for women to gain the right to vote. And it is my hope that in 2020, on the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote, that we will open the doors to this important museum.

I urge the passage of this long overdue legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, this bill, as we all know, if you read it, will not cost taxpayers one single dime. It will not cost taxpayers one single cent. It didn't cost it in the past, it doesn't today, and it will not in the future use any Federal funding. It is written into the legislation.

And the commission is not at all about determining the content of the museum. That part would come much later if the recommendations were approved by this body. The content would be determined in the future by professional curators that would chronicle the history of this great country and the great women that are a part of it. The commission would have 18 months to prepare and submit their recommendations to Congress, and then Congress, this body, would have the final say. So if Congress decides favorably, then, and only then, would a second bill be needed to support the museum and move forward.

So to vote ``no'' on this bill would basically be voting ``no'' on a cost-free, no-strings-attached conversation by a bipartisan panel on the important contributions of women to this country.

I now yield such time as she may consume to the distinguished gentlewoman from the District of Columbia, Eleanor Holmes Norton, and I thank her for her extraordinary leadership on this issue and so many, many other issues.

Madam Speaker, I want to underscore that no taxpayer money will be used now or in the future. In fact, there is a National Women's History Museum organization with a 501(c)(3) that is headed by Joan Wages, and they have already raised well over $10 million privately to support the commission and the commission's work.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from the great State of Tennessee for her statement on the floor today and her hard work in passing this bill.

My good friend, Mrs. Bachmann, said there were 20 other women's museums. Well, there is not one comprehensive women's museum that chronicles the achievements and the contributions of women. There are many niche museums. There is a museum in Seneca Falls that pays tribute to the founding mothers of the first women's rights convention, the abolitionist movement, and the right for women to gain the right to vote. There are museums in the Capital for women artists. There is part of the Smithsonian that focuses on the first ladies and the gowns that they wore in their inaugural. There are niche museums out West for the pioneering great women who led the effort in the West. But there is not one comprehensive museum, and I find it astonishing in the United States that chronicles the many outstanding women contributions. If you Google all the women that have won the Nobel, it is astonishing, but there is no place that displays this.

So, I think it is long overdue to have a national women's history museum. Quite frankly, I can't even find one in the entire world that chronicles women's contributions.

I would now like to yield 1 minute to the gentlelady from the great State of New York, Congresswoman Meng, my distinguished colleague, which she has requested, but she can have more if she wants it.

I yield the gentlewoman an additional 30 seconds.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlelady from the great State of Maryland, Donna Edwards, the distinguished leader who is also the chair of the bipartisan Women's Caucus here in Congress.

I yield the gentlelady an additional 30 seconds.

Madam Speaker, may I inquire how much time remains?

Madam Speaker, I would like to just point out and build on what my good friend and colleague, Marsha Blackburn, said. It was Seneca Falls in New York that was the birthplace of the suffrage movement to grant women the right to vote.

In 1920, when the 19th Amendment granting that right to vote was at last in the process of being ratified by the States, it was the State of Tennessee that put that effort over the top. Now Tennessee and New York have come together again, and we are working very hard to create a women's museum that will talk about this great achievement and many others in all fields that have empowered this country and moved this country forward--not only achievements by individual women, but I would say collective achievements by women and their hard work, such as the effort by women to create pasteurization of milk, the immunization of children, increased health care, improved health care, and improved education. These are all efforts that collectively women have worked together on.

So I ask my colleagues today to vote ``yes'' on this bill and to vote for allowing an idea to be examined and to come forward before this committee again, and let's see how it can work.

A ``yes'' vote will cost this country nothing, and it could mean everything to our young people, to our girls and our boys and our children and their children to be able to come to their Nation's Capital and to learn many things, including the many important contributions of half the population, women.

I would like to remind my colleagues that this is Mother's Day week, and I cannot think of a better present to our mothers than to recognize the contributions that they have made to the American family and to this country.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Let me first thank you, Representative Horsford and Congressman Jeffries, for organizing the Congressional Black Caucus' Special Order. You have really shown tremendous leadership and consistency and have been working so hard on behalf, not only of your constituents, but for the entire country and especially for the CBC.

Let me just thank, while she is here, our phenomenal chair, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, for her leadership of the Congressional Black Caucus.

As we celebrate women's history and trailblazing women, we celebrate them for their courage, character, and commitment. That is our 2014 Women's History Month theme.

So I am so proud that we have a chairwoman who exhibits all three of these characteristics. Thank you for standing strong and for leading the Congressional Black Caucus on so, so many fronts. Thank you and congratulations.

Let me just say that I agree with Congressman Horsford when you say, each month--each day, really--we should always celebrate women's history; though in March, we, again, take a moment to recognize really the triumphs of women throughout the course of history and to mark how far we have come, but also to recognize that there is much work to be done.

Now, let me just start by mentioning the phenomenal and beautiful 89- year-old woman, Mildred Massey, who of course is my role model. She raised three girls in segregated El Paso, Texas, until desegregation and, at one point, worked three jobs to help take care of her family.

We lived in a multigenerational household and, until his death, was her father's--W.C. Parrish, my grandfather--primary caregiver while working and taking care of her girls.

She taught me at an early age that girls and women are born equal to boys and men and to never forget that and to always fight for equality and justice. That was a given in our household.

I would not be where I am had it not been for my mother and also for many incredible fighters like my mother who came before me in the public arena. I would like to take a moment to honor three women in particular, in addition to my mother, whose shoulders we stand on: Bessie Coleman, Dr. Dorothy Height, and, of course, Shirley Chisholm.

Bessie Coleman, as she was quoted, refused to take ``no'' for an answer. Although she dreamed of becoming a pilot, no flight school in the United States would accept her simply because she was a woman and because she was Black, but she refused to take ``no'' for an answer. She enrolled in flight school in France and became the only woman and the only person of color in her class in Paris. She soon became the first African American woman pilot and the first American of any race to hold an international pilot's license.

Several weeks ago, a portion of Airport Drive at the Oakland International Airport, in my district, was renamed ``Bessie Coleman Drive.'' It was such an inspiration to be part of this dedication ceremony because she, of course, was from or worked in Oakland, and really went to many of her classes and learned a lot about piloting in Oakland, California.

Another great woman who refused to take ``no'' for an answer was our beloved and great doctor, Dorothy Height. Let me just say how fortuitous it is that today is Dr. Height's birthday. She was a bold and brilliant African American woman who blazed many trails and opened many doors to the American Dream for women and people of color.

From her stewardship as the national president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority--of whom I know our chair, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, and Congresswoman Joyce Beatty are proud members--to her leading the National Council of Negro Women for 41 years and to her more than 60 years at the YWCA, which she was responsible for desegregating, Dorothy Height dedicated her life to achieving racial equality and securing women's rights. Dr. Height was especially committed to empowering women and girls, and worked to ensure that Black women's issues were equally addressed. She was

also dedicated to helping women work towards full employment, pay, and education.

I remember when Dr. Height turned, I believe it was, 90 years old. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus honored her at a luncheon here on Capitol Hill. She really gave us more background and knowledge and information during that luncheon as to how those following behind her needed to really focus on the fact that, yes, when women succeed, America succeeds. Dorothy Height was a true leader for all women not only in our own country but throughout the world.

In the seventies, Women's History Month was little more than an idea. As this idea was taking formation, Shirley Chisholm, a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, had only recently made history by becoming the first African American woman elected to Congress. I was a student at Mills College in the early seventies when Mrs. Chisholm again made history by becoming the first African American woman and the first African American to run for the Democratic Presidential nomination. Although she did not win the nomination, her campaign inspired thousands, myself included, to use their voices and to speak up through the ballot box. She blazed the trail for, of course, our Nation's first great President, President Barack Obama.

Throughout her congressional career, the unbought and unbossed Mrs. Chisholm continued her fight against discrimination in all forms and championed issues for women and their families. She was a strong voice for domestic workers and led the fight to give them the right to a minimum wage. This was way back in the day, but we are still struggling and fighting for many of those issues. Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm was instrumental, along with the first Asian Pacific American, our beloved Congresswoman Patsy Mink, in passing title IX, which prohibits discrimination in the funding of education programs. She was also a fierce advocate for the Affordable Child Care Act. There is no doubt that the 16 African American women in Congress today are truly standing on the strong, strong shoulders of Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm.

After years of trying, I am pleased that we were finally able to secure a postage stamp in her honor. Just last month, I was joined by Leader Pelosi in my district for the west coast unveiling of the United States Postal Service's Black Heritage stamp as a small token of our thanks while Congressmen Jeffries and Rangel and Congresswoman Clarke had the privilege to unveil the beautiful stamp in Shirley Chisholm's former district in Brooklyn, New York.

So 101 years after women marched in Washington, D.C., for the right to vote, women are still fighting to break down barriers. It is really a disgrace that in 2014, despite making up 50 percent of our workforce, women still make, on average, 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. Even worse, African American women are making only 64 cents and Latinas only 55 cents for every dollar a White man makes. The point is that working women are paid less for the same work as men. This is wrong and it is discriminatory. What is more, child care remains unaffordable; quality, affordable education remains out of the reach of far too many women; and pregnancy discrimination continues. Again, this is simply unacceptable.

That is why the Democratic women of the House, including the women of the CBC, under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi and Donna Edwards and Doris Matsui and Rosa DeLauro, have launched When Women Succeed, America Succeeds, and are championing an economic agenda for women and families, one which our President supports.

Finally, let me just quote from my dear friend, our beloved Shirley Chisholm. She once said: I want to be remembered as a woman who dared to be a catalyst for change.

There is no doubt that she was.

As we honor heroines like my mother, Shirley Chisholm, Dorothy Height, Bessie Coleman, and so many others in our districts who fight each and every day with little resources to make our communities better, let us remember that, yes, when women succeed, America succeeds. Also, as I said at the United Nations very recently at the Commission on the Status of Women, when women succeed, the world becomes a more just and a more equitable place.

Thank you for your leadership.