A resolution celebrating the 100th anniversary of the passage and ratification of the 19th Amendment, providing for women's suffrage, to the Constitution of the United States.

Madam President, one of the things I have noticed over the years that I have given these climate speeches is that corporate engagement on climate change has been one-sided, let's just say. It is clear who my adversaries have been--Big Oil, the coal lobby, the Koch brothers, and some very powerful corporate trade associations--the American Petroleum Institute, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the most powerful of all, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, so-called. In my view, it is more properly called the U.S. Chamber of Carbon. These adversaries have managed a big-money campaign, first, to sow doubt about or outright deny climate change and, second, to block action in Congress and Federal agencies to limit carbon pollution.

The International Monetary Fund just estimated fossil fuel subsidies in the United States at $650 billion for 2015. Yes, that is ``billion'' with a ``b.'' When you are defending that kind of subsidy, you spare no expense, which explains the millions of dollars spent by the fossil fuel industry and its trade group cronies in opposing climate bills, in supporting phony climate denial front groups, and in funding election attacks against candidates who might try to limit carbon pollution.

While the fossil fuel industry has been running roughshod around Washington, the rest of corporate America has sat on its hands. Even companies with gauzy website offerings on climate and strong sustainability policies within the company have done virtually nothing to support climate action in Congress. I could name names, but that would make it a very long speech because, basically, everybody in corporate America has been absent here.

There are, at long last, signs that corporate America is waking up to the climate fight it has been losing in Washington. When and if corporate America finally engages in the serious support of climate action, Congress will, once again, spring to life. After a 10-year drought, we could again see bipartisan legislation to reduce carbon pollution.

Why this new spurt of corporate engagement on climate change?

Look at the avalanche of warnings about the financial risks climate change poses to the global economy. In just the last few months, here are some of the warnings: 34 central banks, including Canada's, France's, and England's; a group of major reinsurers; the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco; the investment giant BlackRock; EPA economists and scientists; the Urban Land Institute; the investment advisory firm Mercer; the European Central Bank; and the investment advisory firm Sarasin & Partners. All have separately warned about climate change's tanking the economy.

There are agricultural as well as financial warnings. In April, the big food companies--Danone, Mars, Nestle, and Unilever--announced that they would begin advocating for Federal action on climate change. They see the risk climate change poses to the world's agricultural and water supplies.

Their preferred solution? A price on carbon:

Establish an ambitious carbon pricing system that sends a

clear signal to the marketplace to reduce economy-wide

greenhouse gas emissions aligned with the Paris Agreement

goal to keep global temperature increase well below 2-degrees

centigrade. An appropriate carbon pricing structure should be

transparent in how prices are set, equitable in how revenue

is appropriated to mitigate costs on the most vulnerable

communities, and built to ensure our global competitiveness.

I fully agree.

Following on those food companies' heels, Microsoft announced that it, too, would begin advocating in Congress for Federal climate action. It joined the Climate Leadership Council--a group of economists, policymakers, businesses, and environmental groups--formed in 2017, to advance a price on carbon. Like the food companies, Microsoft sees a Federal price on carbon as the best policy to tackle climate change.

Then, in May, 13 more companies announced the CEO Climate Dialogue to advocate for climate action. Once again, these companies declared that they supported a price on carbon:

An economy-wide price on carbon is the best way to use the

power of the market to achieve carbon reduction goals, in a

simple, coherent and efficient manner. We desire to do this

at the least cost to the economy and households. Markets will

also spur innovation, and create and preserve quality jobs in

a growing low-carbon economy.

Note that last sentence: ``Markets will also spur innovation, and create and preserve quality jobs in a growing low-carbon economy.''

One of the weird things about all of the remorseless opposition to climate action out of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers is that there is a heck of a lot of commerce and a heck of a lot of manufacturing in climate change solutions. So why are they so against them? It is an anomaly but not the only anomaly in climate denial.

Republican colleagues who wax poetic about the free market seem not to notice this massive $650 billion subsidy for carbon pollution. That is a big thing not to notice if you are serious about the free market. The last gasp of climate obstruction here in Congress is to talk about innovation as the magic climate solution. Here is the rub: Without a clear market signal in the form of a price on carbon, there will be little incentive to innovate. How do you innovate away a $650 billion annual subsidy? How does the market work to reduce carbon pollution when carbon pollution is free? Innovations like carbon capture and storage aren't cheap. There is not much of a business case for these innovations--it is hard to see the revenue proposition--unless we put a price on carbon. Then innovation happens.

Am I wrong about market theory?

Let's go to Milton Friedman, the Nobel Prize-winning patron saint of market theory. He was unambiguous about pricing pollution.

He was asked: Was there a case for the government to do something about pollution?

He responded:

Yes, there's a case for the government to do something.

There's always a case for the government to do something

about it . . . when what two people do affects a third party

[ . . . ] But the question is, What's the best way to do it?

And the best way to do it is not to have bureaucrats in

Washington write rules and regulations. . . . The way to do

it is to impose a tax on the cost of the pollutants . . . and

make an incentive for . . . manufacturers and for consumers

to keep down the amount of pollution.

So, yes, putting a price on pollution to give an incentive to innovation is core free market principle.

I happen to share that faith in the power of the market to drive innovation when the market is working. But it is not going to happen when the market is distorted by a $650 billion subsidy.

That is why I filed a carbon pricing bill to help correct that fossil fuel subsidy and balance the market, so those principles can go to work.

At the end of May, 75 companies came to Capitol Hill to advocate for carbon pricing. Together, those companies operate in all 50 States, have annual revenues over $2.5 trillion, and have a market value of nearly $2.5 trillion.

These companies met with dozens of lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, to make the case for a price on carbon--that it is the commonsense policy to dramatically reduce carbon pollution, drive the transition to a low carbon economy, and grow jobs and the economy. There is enormous economic and scientific support for that argument. There is little opposition to that argument or at least little opposition that can't be traced back to the mischief of the fossil fuel industry and its front groups. I hope my colleagues listened.

I also hope that other companies join in and help the American business community make climate action a

Washington, DC, priority. It can't just be talk. The fossil fuel industry isn't going to just walk away from a $650 billion annual subsidy. To offset the millions spent by the fossil fuel bandits defending their license to pollute for free is going to require some real effort on the part of corporate America.

It is also going to take corporate America getting control over the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers. The watchdog group InfluenceMap has analyzed business associations around the world. They found that the Chamber and NAM--the National Association of Manufacturers--are the worst--the worst--the most obstructive when it comes to climate action. Here they are, rock bottom: U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers--tail end of the worst.

Why? Why are the Chamber and NAM the worst? If the majority of large companies in America support climate action, why do these two trade associations remain so opposed? Why are they the worst?

I strongly recommend that if you are a corporate member of one of these two organizations--if you are a corporate member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, if you are a corporate member of the National Association of Manufacturers--that you demand an audit--that you demand an audit of these trade associations' funding because here is what I expect you will find: You will find that while they had you out on the front porch as a prop for the neighbors to see, they were in the back room, secretly pocketing big money from fossil fuel interests to stop climate legislation. My belief is that the fossil fuel industry has given both the Chamber and NAM so much money that those two organizations have chumped--chumped--their member organizations by ignoring their views on climate in order to keep the money pouring in secretly from the fossil fuel industry.

The members are in a position to find out. Ask. Demand an audit. Find out if you have been chumped by the organizations you support.

This trade association obstruction by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers has to change, but it will not until these trade associations' member companies demand a stop to the obstruction and demand real support for carbon pricing.

Let me close with a word of warning. The alarms are ringing loudly. As one scientist recently said: ``The ocean is screaming.'' Financial crises loom. Our failure over the last three decades to address the climate crisis is a black mark against both our democracy and our system of free market capitalism. Creepy-crawly political subservience to fossil fuel interests has degraded American democracy, and free market capitalism is conspicuously failing to meet the climate challenge. That can change, but it has to change fast.

More than three decades ago, Representative Claudine Schneider and Senator John Chafee, both Republicans from Rhode Island, introduced comprehensive legislation to address climate change--from Republicans, three decades ago. Since then, the fossil fuel industry's campaign to obstruct climate progress has succeeded, but at a terrible price. Every day that we fail to address our climate crisis is a day that we mortgage our children's and our grandchildren's futures.

Through these long decades, the good guys in corporate America have been conspicuously absent. This recent activity makes me optimistic-- optimistic that the business community seems to be finally stepping up and optimistic that bipartisanship can be restored.

Eyes are beginning to flutter open around here. Now it is time not just to wake up but to get to work.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

As the senior Republican woman in the Senate today, I am pleased to begin a series of speeches, along with my good friend from California, the senior Democratic woman Senator, Mrs. Dianne Feinstein, to commemorate a significant milestone in our Nation's history. One hundred years ago today, the Senate finally passed the 19th Amendment, which affirmed the right of women to vote in elections.

All of us recall that in 1775, as the Second Continental Congress was forging a new Nation conceived in liberty, Abigail Adams admonished her husband John to ``remember the ladies.'' Despite Abigail Adam's advice, it took nearly a century and a half for women to achieve their rightful place as full U.S. citizens.

On June 4, 1919, the U.S. Senate passed the 19th Amendment to our Constitution. The courage and determination exhibited by generations of women and men were rewarded in just two sentences:

The rights of citizens of the United States to vote shall

not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any

State on account of sex. Congress shall have the power to

enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

That is it. Those are the words of the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing women the right to vote.

It is an honor today to join my 24 women Senate colleagues in cosponsoring a resolution commemorating this centennial. The yellow roses that we are wearing are a historic and enduring symbol of the victory that we celebrate today.

It has often been said, as Emerson put it, that ``there is properly no history; only biography.'' The story of women's suffrage is an anthology of remarkable biographies.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott led the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848. This marked the first time that American women formally demanded the vote. The convention produced the landmark Declaration of Sentiments. Using the Declaration of Independence as a template, it states: ``We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men and women are created equal.''

The early women's rights movement was closely linked to the abolition of slavery. Lucretia Mott made her position clear. She said:

``I have no idea of submitting tamely to injustice

inflicted either on me or on the slave. I will oppose it with

all the moral powers with which I am endowed.''

Among the most vigorous advocates of women's suffrage were those who knew too well the lash of oppression, the escaped slaves Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Tubman.

Another very important incident in the march of history occurred in 1872. Susan B. Anthony and 14 other women in Rochester, New York, illegally voted in that year's Presidential election. They were promptly arrested. Susan B. Anthony was put on trial, convicted, and ordered to pay a fine of $100 or face imprisonment. Imagine--for voting.

She bravely refused, saying that she would never submit to this ``high-handed outrage upon my citizen's rights.'' The authorities wisely chose not to pursue collecting the fine.

Suffrage leaders realized that nothing short of a constitutional amendment would do--one modelled after the 15th Amendment, which granted the vote to all men regardless of race.

With new leaders--such as Carrie Chapman Catt and, later, Alice Paul--stepping forward, a strategy was developed to use every peaceful instrument to change the hearts and minds of political leaders and the public. In addition to marches, rallies, and petitions, they enlisted the power of the pulpit and the press in their just cause.

It took more than four decades for this strategy to succeed, and strong Maine women played key roles. Katherine Reed Balentine, the daughter of the legendary Speaker of the House of Representatives, Thomas Brackett Reed, led the Maine Woman Suffrage Association. Author and activist Florence Brooks Whitehouse became a nationally known suffrage organizer and offered these words to opponents of this cause: ``This you must know; the world is mine, as yours.''

I am proud to report that when the 19th Amendment came to the Senate floor on that historic day, exactly 100 years ago, both of Maine's Senators, Republicans Bert Fernald and Frederick Hale, were among the 56 voting in favor. Following Senate passage, all

that remained was for 36 of the 48 States to vote for ratification.

Maine became the 19th State to ratify the 19th Amendment, but it wasn't easy. An earlier popular referendum on women's suffrage in Maine got clobbered at the polls by a margin of nearly 2 to 1. Of course, women were not allowed to vote on their own future, which obviously skewed the results.

Recognizing the inherent unfairness of the situation, Maine's Republican Governor, Carl Milliken, called an emergency session of the State legislature and ushered the measure through by a vote of 72 to 68.

By the summer of 1920, only one more State was needed to reach the magic number of 36. The Nation's eyes were on the State of Tennessee, where the amendment was before the legislature. The outlook was discouraging. After two rollcall votes, suffrage opponents, who wore red roses on their lapels, were in a dead heat with the yellow rose supporters. If the measure failed to pass in Tennessee, the 19th Amendment would not be ratified.

At the last possible moment, the youngest Tennessee lawmaker, Harry Burn, despite the red rose that he wore--which indicated you were in opposition--cast his vote in favor of ratification.

After evading an angry mob by climbing out of a third floor window in the Maine Capitol Building and hiding in the attic, Representative Burn explained that he changed his mind after he received a letter from his mother, telling him: ``Don't forget to be a good boy'' and to do the right thing.

I am sure the Presiding Officer is very familiar with this story.

One of my inspirations in public service, Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith, once addressed the question of what is a woman's proper place. Her famous short answer was this: ``Everywhere.''

The rest of her answer describes the importance of the struggle and the success that we celebrate today. She said: ``If there is any proper place for women today, it is that of alert and responsible citizens in the fullest sense of the word.''

It is a great pleasure to join my colleagues--particularly the senior Democratic woman Senator, Dianne Feinstein of California--in saluting those great, courageous, and persistent women who, over many long decades and through much difficulty, guided our Nation to that proper place by giving women the long, overdue right to be full citizens in this country--the right to vote.

Madam President, it is now my great pleasure to yield to my friend and distinguished colleague, Senator Feinstein.

Madam President, I thank the Senator from California for her remarks and yield time now to the Senator from Illinois, Ms. Duckworth.

Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I recognize the Senator from Alaska, Ms. Murkowski.

Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Alaska for her eloquent comments.

I now yield to Senator Murray.

Mr. President, I thank the Senator for her good remarks today.

I am very pleased to yield time to the Senator from Tennessee, Mrs. Blackburn.

Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Tennessee for giving us such a great history lesson, and I appreciate her remarks.

Next on our list of speakers is Senator Ernst followed by Senator Shaheen.

I yield to Senator Ernst of Iowa.

Mr. President, before I yield to my friend and neighbor from New Hampshire, I recognize, in the back of the Chamber, a truly extraordinary woman, an outstanding former U.S. Senator who served in this Chamber from 1987 to 2017, some 30 years, Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland. She has served on the Commission that has worked very hard to make sure we commemorate this centennial of women's suffrage, and she has been a mentor and friend to all of us who had the pleasure of serving with her.

I welcome Senator Mikulski back to the U.S. Senate, which was her home for so many years and where she still has so many friends and admirers, of whom I count myself one.

The Chair is a very wise man.

Now I yield to Senator Jeanne Shaheen.

Mr. President, I thank the Senator from New Hampshire, and it is now my pleasure to yield time to the Senator from Nebraska, Mrs. Fischer.

Mr. President, I want to thank the Senator from Nebraska for her very kind comments and her eloquent remarks, and I am now pleased to yield time to the Senator from Wisconsin, Ms. Baldwin.

Mr. President, I am now pleased to yield to the Senator from Maryland, Mr. Cardin.

Mr. President, I am pleased to yield to the Senator from Minnesota, Ms. Klobuchar.

Mr. President, I yield to the Senator from West Virginia, Mrs. Capito.

Madam President, earlier, I recognized Senator Barbara Mikulski, an outstanding leader and former colleague and member of the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission. I also want to acknowledge that there are other members of the Commission who are here with us today. We welcome them as they observe this debate, and we thank them for their hard work to make sure this significant occasion is recognized.

It is now my great pleasure to yield time to the Senator from Washington, Senator Cantwell.

Madam President, I simply want to thank my colleagues for their participation today in bringing to the attention of the American people that this truly is a historic occasion, a date on which we celebrate the Senate's passage of the 19th Amendment granting women a long-overdue right to vote. I want to thank all of my colleagues who participated in the speeches. The history they brought from their individual States was fascinating indeed.

It is my understanding that we will now move to pass commemorative coin legislation introduced by the Senator from Tennessee.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I rise today to join my colleagues as we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the date Congress sent to the States this question: the ratification of a constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote.

Our ancestors have long sought the promise of a better life for themselves and their children. Many of our forebearers came to this country seeking religious liberty, economic security, or personal freedom.

Since 1788, they were drawn to the promise of these words: ``We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.''

Today, most in this body and across the country would agree that a woman's full participation in the life of her community and Nation are crucial if the promise laid out in our Constitution's preamble is ever to be fully realized.

But in 1788 and for many years thereafter, women could not own property, could not open a bank account on their own, or even control the money that they earned through their own work. They could not control their destiny or, indeed, their own bodies. Justice, tranquility, the general welfare, and the blessings of liberty were, for women, what men said they were.

That all began to change on June 4, 1919, the date when finally, after so many years of struggle and failure, the required number of Senators voted aye for House Joint Resolution 1, ``proposing an amendment to the Constitution extending the right of suffrage to women.'' It was very simple yet intensely powerful, a resolution with just one article that read:

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall

not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any

State on account of sex. Congress shall have the power to

enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

That remarkable moment, we know, did not come easily. For decades, women across America sought the promise of our Nation for themselves and their daughters. They were subjected to insults and ridicule and, sometimes, even imprisonment and violence.

In 1906, an editorial in the New York Times defined the word ``suffragette'' as a ``demanding screecher'' and ``a woman who ought to have more sense.'' Walking in parades in support of the right to vote, women had insults and worse hurled at them. Suffragists were physically attacked.

Beginning in June of 1917, it got much worse. Here in Washington, DC, police began arresting women who were picketing the White House in support of suffrage for ``obstructing sidewalk traffic.'' Throughout the summer and into the fall, women who refused to pay the fine were sent to the Women's Workhouse in Lorton, VA, or the district jail, where conditions were deplorable. Rats ran free in the prison. The food was infested with maggots. Alice Paul, a leader of the National Woman's Party, and about 71 other women began a hunger strike while in jail and for months suffered force-feeding of raw eggs in milk through nasal gastric tubes. In November, 33 of the imprisoned suffragists were beaten by guards by order of the prison superintendent. One woman's hands were handcuffed high above her head on the prison door for an entire night. Some were left unconscious.

Sojourner Truth, Lucy Stone, Julia Ward Howe, Ida B. Wells, Mary Church Terrell, Alice Paul, and others are widely known as suffragist leaders. There were millions of others across the country doing what they could in their own families, in their own communities and States, to advance women's rights. They marched, protested, sewed flags and banners, and spoke up at home and in their hometowns.

In the following 100 years since the Senate sent the women's right to vote to the States for ratification, the right to vote gave women the power to change their lives and to impact our Nation in so many positive and profound ways. As a result, our Nation has made incredible strides.

Today, in 2019, it may be difficult for some to imagine an America without women leaders in every conceivable endeavor. Amazing women have contributed to our Nation in countless ways, both large and small. We have moved from the horse and buggy era to putting a man on the moon, but man would not have gotten there and back without women mathematicians and engineers.

While few colleges admitted women a century ago, by 1980 more women than men earned bachelor's degrees. Since 1919, women are able to enter any profession for which they are qualified, keep their own wages, start and run corporations, lead scientific and medical advances, and fly into space. Women have the right to be heard in

the Halls of Congress and in their children's schools. We are allowed to determine the guilt or innocence of an accused and volunteer as poll workers. We can inherit property, run the Iditarod, and become mayors and Governors. And we can not only run for office, but we can vote for ourselves.

Women can do anything we put our minds to, but if it had not been for the right to vote--the basic, legal right to be recognized--would we be where we are today? Would we have women like Sandra Day O'Connor, Condoleezza Rice, Christiane Amanpour, or Sally Ride? Would we have the benefit of the voices of countless American women who share their views with Congress because they know that their opinions--backed up by their votes--matter on issues as varied as childcare, climate change, and national security? Would the young women of today have the faith that they really can do anything they set their minds to? Maybe not.

I rise today to call on all Americans to commemorate this day, to remember all those who made it possible, and to honor them by recognizing that the right to vote, to be heard, and to be valued is a precious right. It has not always been implemented fairly, and it must be guarded and defended.

As we look to honor the past, we must also acknowledge that, like our ancestors, we have more progress to make. Gaining the right to vote was the first step toward full equality. Despite the passage of the Civil Rights Act, which makes discrimination on the basis of sex illegal, and despite the Equal Pay Act and the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, our Constitution gives us the right to vote but does not protect us from discrimination.

So in the spirit of women who fought for the rights of women who would come after them, I hope the Senate will pass S.J. Res. 6 to remove the deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. That will be something we will bring up at another point in time. But today, I am able to stand with my friends and my colleagues here in the Senate as we recognize and honor those who paved the way and have allowed for this right to vote, that right and value to be heard.

I yield the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Senator Collins.

I rise today proudly wearing a yellow rose in solidarity with 24 other women who serve in the U.S. Senate to recognize what is a very historic milestone in our Nation's history. Almost 100 years ago, after decades and decades of struggle by brave women and men, our Nation finally extended to women the most fundamental right of our democracy-- the right to vote. The struggle for women's suffrage was fought in every corner of our country, and communities all over the Nation are planning to recognize their contributions over the next year.

Today marks precisely 100 years to the day that the Senate passed the 19th Amendment. I am proud to state that a week later, on June 10, 1919, Wisconsin became the first State in our Union to ratify the 19th Amendment. I am always proud to say that my home State was the very first to ratify women's right to vote, narrowly beating our neighbor to the south, the State of Illinois, because of a paperwork error. You know, we are still first. I am especially happy that I will forever have bragging rights over my friend from Illinois, the co-chair of the Senate caucus, Senator Tammy Duckworth, because Illinois wasn't quite quick enough and Wisconsin did it first.

I am also proud today to wear a purple ribbon. This ribbon is in recognition of the women of color who fought and marched alongside their White colleagues in the suffrage movement but whose contributions went largely unsung and many of whom were still denied the right to vote after the 19th Amendment was ratified.

As we observe and celebrate this historic moment, we must be careful not to mistake progress for victory. With just 131 women currently serving in Congress, we are well short of equal representation in government. Government works best when legislatures reflect the people they work for--when they look like America. That is why it is important to increase the number of women who serve in public office. Women are half the population. We should be half of our Nation's government, too.

When I first entered public service, I had the opportunity to sit on the Madison City Council. I remember well a meeting when I had one of those light bulb moments of the difference that women make when we serve.

The city council that day was debating whether to extend service and add an additional bus route that went directly to the Madison Area Technical College's new campus. I remember listening to my male colleagues and their participation in the debate. There was a lot of focus on funding and logistics and finger pointing at which body in government should bear this responsibility. At first, they didn't seem to think that the city council should take action to add another bus route.

Then I began hearing the voices of my female colleagues. They began speaking of and describing their experience traveling to campus. They spoke about evening classes and having to walk a long distance down a poorly lit road to get to the nearest bus stop. They spoke about the dangers of walking home alone at night. Most women can identify with the fear of walking or commuting home late at night. It seemed that the men in the debate hadn't thought about it in the same way before that moment. The whole debate changed as soon as women's voices were heard, and the city council ultimately voted to fund a new route that went right to the campus door.

Women bring their life experiences to the job. It helps inform our debate, our votes, and the policies that we deliver. My experience with the women of the U.S. Senate, past and present, is that they ran for office and came to Washington to solve problems. I feel like we are guided by the idea that our job is to work together and to get things done. That is what we do, both Democrats and Republicans, as we work together to deliver solutions.

I worked with my colleague Senator Susan Collins to pass legislation to better support the more than 40 million family caregivers in this country who contribute millions of dollars each year in uncompensated care for their loved ones. I worked with my colleague Senator Joni Ernst to pass legislation to provide our Nation's farmers and agricultural workers with the mental health resources they need to deal with the extreme economic stress that our farmers have faced in recent years. I worked with my colleague Senator Lisa Murkowski to pass legislation that will bring more obstetricians to rural areas and expand access to maternity care to women so they no longer have to drive hours to get the healthcare they need or to deliver their babies.

I appreciate these partnerships and the many others that I have been able to experience, and I look forward to continuing to work together on a bipartisan basis to deliver results for the American people. With more women in public office, you will see more solutions to the challenges and problems we face. Women get stuff done.

In 2017, I was proud to lead bipartisan legislation to establish the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission and ensure that we give this important anniversary the recognition and celebration it deserves. I am thrilled to say that the Commission is now hard at work in developing, supporting, and

lifting up commemorative efforts across this country. It is working with private organizations and government at every level to encourage and help facilitate their events.

I give a particularly heartfelt thank-you to my friend and former Senator Barbara Mikulski, who helped to get the Commission started and is now actually serving as a Commissioner.

I look forward to seeing the great work of the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission as we get closer to the formal anniversary celebration of when the 19th Amendment finally became part of our Nation's charter.

I am grateful today for the brave women who came before us and fought for the right of all American women to have a say in their own government. Thanks to their struggle, their persistence, and their determination to bring women the right to vote, I stand here today as one of 25 women who serves in the U.S. Senate and represents the great State of Wisconsin.

We have more work to do, but in 2018, more women ran for office and won than ever before in our Nation's history. As a result, we have a new Congress that is starting to look just a little bit more like the people it aims to represent. Let's keep building on that progress, and let's keep working together on solutions to the challenges we face today.

Mr. President, I thank my neighbor and friend, Senator Collins, and Senator Feinstein--the two of them for organizing this afternoon's conversation on the floor in recognition of the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment.

I also begin by recognizing Senator Mikulski, who was such a trailblazer for so many women. I remember being a young woman involved in politics in the late eighties in New Hampshire right after she was elected to the Senate, and she came up and spoke to us. At the time, I was not sure there was ever an opportunity for a woman in New Hampshire to go anywhere, and listening to her made me realize there were opportunities for women everywhere, and we need to take advantage of them, so I thank Senator Mikulski.

Today we celebrate not only the passage of the 19th Amendment but the countless women who fought for decades before 1919 so that women would one day realize the full rights protected under the Constitution.

As so many of my colleagues have said, we remember women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, who organized the first women's rights convention at Seneca Falls in 1848; Susan B. Anthony, who took up the fight following the first convention, and Harriet Tubman, Ida Wells, and Sojourner Truth, who worked tirelessly for women's rights all while battling the forces of slavery and racism. These women and so many others faced extraordinary obstacles as they protested, marched, lobbied, and, at times, sacrificed their own freedom so women could one day secure the right to vote.

The leaders of the women's suffrage movement understood the fundamental truth; that the rights protected under the Constitution are merely privileges if they are not enjoyed by everyone in our society.

As Susan B. Anthony put it in 1873, ``It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; not yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union. And we formed it, not to give the blessings of liberty, but to secure them; not to the half of ourselves . . . . but to the whole people--women as well as men.''

The suffrage movement was, of course, an effort to achieve political equality for women, but it was also an effort to secure a more perfect Union by giving life to the ideals laid out in our founding documents. This pursuit for equality continues today, and it is in the spirit of our trailblazers that women carry on the fight for full equality under the law.

It is in that spirit that we are here this afternoon on the floor of the Senate to talk about the importance of carrying on the tradition of our Founding Mothers. These figures are an important part of our history, and because of the generations of women they inspired, their legacy lives on today. We must remember their stories and honor their sacrifices. Those sacrifices have helped shape the identity of our Nation, and it is why we celebrate these women in the same regard as we have our Founding Fathers. It is why the issue, for me, of keeping a promise to redesign the $20 bill with the likeness of Harriet Tubman is so important.

The United States was not shaped exclusively by men, and our living history, which our currency is a part of, should reflect that because the symbols that we have for our country matter.

Leaders of the women's suffrage movement rose from communities across this country, but today I would like to recognize one of the pioneers of that movement from my own State of New Hampshire, Armenia S. White.

Armenia spent most of her life in Concord, NH, which is our capital. She was active in the community, including supporting the abolitionist and temperance movements, but the cause for which she was most passionate was securing the vote for women.

Armenia was the first signer of the call for an equal suffrage convention in New Hampshire, which was held in Concord in 1868. She was also the first president of the New Hampshire Woman Suffrage Association, a position that she held for nearly 50 years. When the time came for New Hampshire to send a delegate to the American Woman Suffrage Association, organized in Cleveland, Armenia was selected and served in that position for decades.

Armenia's efforts in New Hampshire were largely responsible for the decisions by the State legislature in 1871 and 1878 to make women eligible to serve on school committees. I think it is interesting that we were eligible to serve on school committees before we were eligible to serve in the legislature. But, nevertheless, not only did she help women become eligible to serve on school committees, but she secured women a vote in local school district elections.

Sadly, Armenia never lived to see women secure the right to vote with the passage of the 19th Amendment, but her efforts to improve equality in New Hampshire and throughout the Nation left an enduring impact on the movement. It is an impact that, as the first woman elected to be Governor of New Hampshire and then elected to be Senator there, I have benefited from. I feel a deep sense of gratitude to Armenia and to so many women who came before me for forging a path so that women could one day serve in public office and so that one day we could vote.

Alice Paul, the leader of the women's suffrage movement, once described women's suffrage saying:

I always feel the movement is a sort of mosaic. Each of us

puts in one little stone, and then you get a great mosaic at

the end.

As we recognize and celebrate the passage of the 19th Amendment, we must remember that there is still so much work to do, and even the smallest stones contribute to this great mosaic.

I thank the Presiding Officer and thank again my colleagues, Senator Collins and Senator Feinstein, for leading this effort.

We still have a lot of work to do.