Floor Statements

Mr. President, half a century ago, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, who were tired of being accosted and abused and assaulted just because of who they were or whom they loved, took a stand to say ``enough is enough'' and pushed back against the forces of history that said they were anything less than.

Thanks to the sacrifice of freedom fighters like Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and so many others both named and unnamed who dared that day to live their entire truth, countless others today have been set free. Now, 50 years later, through dogged persistence and sacrifice, we have been able to pass laws and create policies that respect and protect members of the LGBTQIA+ community--from challenging hateful bans against lesbian and gay relationships, to securing landmark civil rights protections against hate crimes, to, finally, making marriage equality the law of our land.

This year, as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall protests that sparked the modern movement for LGBTQ equality, I am very proud to stand here on the floor of the Senate as an unapologetic ally for this vibrant community.

As we close out this month's annual celebration of Pride, I come to the floor today to reintroduce legislation to further protect gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, and gender nonconforming individuals from the dogma of our Nation's homophobic and transphobic past because, even as we reflect on the progress we have made, we have a lot more to do to achieve equality.

In the Senate, I have been very proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with the community in Washington State and around the country in order to continue our progress and work to expand protections to help members of the community thrive, from our efforts to reduce bullying and harassment at colleges and universities through legislation named after Tyler Clementi--a student who tragically died by suicide in college--to reducing the epidemic of harassment and discrimination in workplaces through the Be HEARD Act, which is a bill I recently introduced that would hold businesses accountable for harassment and discrimination, give workers the resources and support they need to seek justice, and clarify that discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity are unlawful under the Civil Rights Act.

I am very grateful to my colleague Senator Booker and our friend Representative Lieu for joining me today in reintroducing the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act--the first Federal ban on so-called conversion therapy--because, in 2019, we know that being a member of the LGBTQIA+ community isn't an affliction, a disease, or some chronic condition that requires medical treatment; rather, the politicians who say it is are on the wrong side of history.

In fact, we know that conversion therapy is a painful and discriminatory practice. The American Psychological Association has said it ``is unlikely to be successful in changing someone's sexual orientation'' and would ``involve some risk of harm'' contrary to the claims of practitioners and advocates. It is also a practice that is especially harmful to LGBTQIA+ children, who we already know are vulnerable to increased harassment and discrimination because of who they are.

I am proud that my home State of Washington has already banned conversion therapy, but that is not enough so long as any child or any person in our country can be harmed by this sham practice. That is why I am very proud to be here to reintroduce the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act and to remind all of our friends that we stand with them throughout history and throughout the future to make sure they are protected with their rights.

The Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act is legislation that would classify conversion therapy as the fraudulent practice our communities and science know it is. It would clarify in our Nation's laws that providing or facilitating commercial conversion therapy or facilitating or advertising such services is an unfair and deceptive practice, and it would ensure that Federal regulators and State attorneys general have the ability and authority to enforce this ban.

We have come far in our long battle for LGBTQIA+ equality, and I am ready to get to work to get this important legislation over the finish line because, after 50 years of struggle, as a nation, we have come to know that love is love and that love wins. However, after 50 years, we also know it gets better but only if we work to make it so.

From the horrors of the Pulse massacre, to the ever-climbing number of murdered African-American and Latinx transgender women, to President Trump's transgender military ban and his administration's continuous assault on LGBTQIA+ rights, so many of the challenges that face the community today mirror the critical struggles they faced all those years ago at the Stonewall Inn. Like then, too many in the community are still threatened by even greater danger because they are also women, transgender, people of color, poor, and the list goes on.

That is why this legislation and recognitions like Pride Month are so important. All month, I have been thrilled to see the photos from Pride celebrations back in Washington State--from Spokane, to Yakima, to Olympia--filled with so much cheer, resilience, and strength, only to come back here to Washington and argue in this Chamber about why we shouldn't confirm people to judicial or executive posts who don't believe in the full humanity and equality of so many of our family members, friends, neighbors, and coworkers.

It is obvious that this work is still very important, and we have it cut out for us, but I remain hopeful because I have seen how far we have come in just 50 years. By continuing to honor the righteous tradition of Marsha, Sylvia, and so many others by raising our voices against injustice and taking key steps like this legislation to make life easier for the next generation of LGBTQIA+ Americans, I know we will see even more progress in the next 50 years.

Mr. President, as ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, I rise to pay tribute to Peg Seminario, a fierce advocate for working people with more than 40 years leading the AFL-CIO and the labor movement in fighting for stronger protections and safer worker conditions for workers.

Peg has led the AFL-CIO's safety and health program since 1990 and throughout her career has played a leading role in the fight to promulgate strong health and safety standards pertaining to major hazards facing workers, including asbestos, lead, silica, noise, and ergonomics. In fact, she has had a hand in every major health and safety rule adopted since 1977--almost all of which were adopted since the inception of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, OSHA.

She has pushed Congress to protect and enhance the provisions of the OSH Act; to increase Federal funding for critical worker protection Agencies, including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Mine Safety and Health Administration, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health; and worked tirelessly to see that first responders who responded after the 9/11 attack and suffered illnesses as a result received the necessary medical care they need and deserve.

I hope my colleagues will join me in recognizing Mrs. Seminario's distinguished career and thanking her for her efforts to protect the health and safety of workers in America.

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

Mr. President, I come to the floor today to oppose Matthew Kacsmaryk's nomination to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Mr. Kacsmaryk is another example of an extreme choice by President Trump to jam courts with individuals who have put their political views above the law and use their positions of power to chip away at people's rights. Not only are Mr. Kacsmaryk's views hateful and out of the mainstream, but his history of attacking vulnerable communities shows me he will not be a fair and impartial judge. He has fought tooth and nail against any protections for LGBTQIA individuals and has devoted his career to stripping this community of these fundamental rights.

Mr. Kacsmaryk does not believe title XII of the Civil Rights Act includes sexual orientation and gender identity. He opposed the Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell, which affirmed that same-sex couples have the right to marry under our Constitution, and he opposes the Equality Act. He believes this bill will ``weaponize Obergefell.'' The Equality Act builds on existing civil rights laws to expand anti-discrimination protections, to ensure members of the LGBTQ community cannot be fired or evicted from their homes, providing them with the same protections afforded to those who are discriminated against based on their race, religion, age, disability, and more.

He believes healthcare providers should be able to discriminate-- discriminate--against patients based on gender identity or sex stereotyping, and he even supports discrimination against our children. Mr. Kacsmaryk not only opposes protections for transgender students, he has even argued that being transgender is ``delusional.'' He has questioned whether States can ban conversion therapy practices, which are dangerous. They are discredited by the medical community, and they have led to depression and suicidal behavior in young people subjected to these practices.

Mr. Kacsmaryk claims that his hateful views have to do with religious liberty, but his own words show his true colors. When Republicans and Democrats in Utah agreed on employment and housing nondiscrimination protections based on gender identity and sexual orientation, Mr. Kacsmaryk opposed them, even as countless religious organizations supported that bill.

Was religious liberty his main point of opposition? No. Instead, he argued businesses should be able to discriminate based on a person's sexual orientation or gender identity because, in his view, this community does not deserve the same protections as other communities who are often discriminated against.

Mr. Kacsmaryk has said there is a ``clash of absolutes'' between LGBTQIA rights and those who want to discriminate in the name of religious liberty. This is not a view of someone who can be impartial and fair. Not only are his views on nondiscrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity concerning, I am also very alarmed by his record as a fervent crusader against women's reproductive rights and for the far-right position that someone else's ideology is more important than a woman's ability to make her own personal medical decisions.

If his arguments had won the day in court, a woman trying to get contraceptive care could face barriers thrown up at her by her employer or even by her pharmacy, all because someone else thinks that their beliefs matter more than a woman's own personal decisions about her own healthcare.

Mr. Kacsmaryk's extreme hostility to women's reproductive rights is also on display in his own writings outside of the court. He wrote that the court cases affirming those rights--the historic rulings that have defended women's access to birth control and their right to safe, legal abortion--were responsible for removing a ``pillar of marriage law.''

Under any other administration, this truly disturbing ideological track record would be alarming. Unfortunately for President Trump and Vice President Pence, it appears to be a prerequisite. The Trump-Pence administration has taken every opportunity to undermine women's health and reproductive rights. And we have seen far-right Republicans across the country joining them, from State legislators working to pass extreme, harmful abortion restrictions to Republicans here in DC working to jam through extreme, harmful judicial nominees, like Mr. Kacsmaryk, who they hope will uphold blatantly unconstitutional restrictions on women's rights to safe, legal abortion and ultimately take away that right by overturning Roe v. Wade.

I have also been inspired by the people around the country who are speaking up and taking a stand against those extreme views. If we keep making our voices heard against this nominee and Republican efforts to undermine women's reproductive rights more broadly, we can stop these attacks and ensure that every woman has the ability to make her own decisions about her body. I am here today to urge my colleagues to join us in rejecting this nominee.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I want to thank my colleague for starting this really important discussion that all of us should be very well aware of, and I appreciate his leadership.

People across this country have been absolutely clear. They want us to fight for families who are struggling with high healthcare costs and help to make sure that everyone in our country can get quality affordable care. But while Democrats have been coming forward with solutions and calling on Republicans to come to the table to address the healthcare sabotage they have helped President Trump accomplish, instead, they have been repeatedly on the other side, refusing to fight the fire and having only just shown real interest in fanning the flames.

There are so many glaring examples about how President Trump has worked to sabotage families' healthcare. We are here today to focus on just one--the tireless efforts to undermine Medicaid.

It is a program that helps people across the country get affordable, quality healthcare. State after State has now worked to expand Medicaid in recent years, and time after time, we have all seen the benefits of those efforts. Data shows us that Medicaid has helped reduce racial disparities in healthcare. It has helped us increase

access to treatment for opioid use disorder. It is a critical need as our country confronts a nationwide epidemic. It has helped to improve maternal and infant health, another area where we desperately need to make progress.

Medicaid expansion has helped tens of millions of people get quality, affordable healthcare. That is exactly why States that expanded Medicaid have seen their uninsured rates drop more than those that did not.

Yet some Republicans have tried every trick in the book to try to undermine that progress. Back when Republicans were first calling for their harmful TrumpCare plan, they made clear that they wanted to put Medicaid on the chopping block in a very big way--not only rolling back Medicaid expansion but proposing deep cuts for moms and kids and people with disabilities and seniors who need those long-term services and support. Even after people across the country spoke up and pushed back and defeated that backward proposal, Republicans have still tried to take away care from millions of families across the country who rely on Medicaid.

President Trump has called for enormous cuts to Medicaid in his budget proposals. He has pushed for burdensome paperwork requirements that serve no real purpose except to put up barriers that make it harder for people to get the care they need and easier for him to take their care away.

Here in Congress, Republican leadership made clear that their preferred way to pay for the expensive tax breaks they gave to corporations and the wealthy was to cut programs like Medicaid that gave healthcare to those who struggle and are in need.

Even as President Trump and Republicans fight against the wishes of people across the country for these backward proposals, they are fighting to dismantle Medicaid in court as well.

If President Trump gets his way in his blatantly partisan lawsuits, not only will protections for people with preexisting conditions be struck down, not only will young adults be dropped from parents' plans, not only will essential health benefits that ensure coverage and that include prescription drug coverage and maternity care and more go away, not only will lifetime annual caps on coverage return--even for people who are insured through their employer, by the way--but if President Trump has his way in court, Medicaid expansion also will be struck down and tens of millions of families in this country will have the care that they rely on today taken away.

That is wrong, and Democrats are not going to stand for it. We are going to be here to defend patients' care and look to expand coverage and improve quality for families.

I am really proud that my home State of Washington is leading the way. In my home State, instead of taking Medicaid away from people, we are taking on even more challenges through the program. Our State is showing how Medicaid can help to provide people with long-term care benefits in their home, and how it can help address employment challenges and housing needs and other social determinants of health that improve the health of our entire communities.

In short, we are showing how Medicaid can do more, while many Republicans here in the Nation's Capital are trying to get it so it does less.

Enough is enough. It is time for Republicans to stop sabotaging our families' care, stop trying to take coverage away from families and make it more expensive and out of reach, stop trying to undermine Medicaid and the lives of the millions of people who rely on it and start working with Democrats to fight for patients and for families.

If Republicans want to keep sitting by and cheering on the harmful healthcare sabotage proposals, they are going to keep seeing families and patients and Democrats standing up to hold them accountable.

I yield the floor.

I ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, 150 years ago, in Washington State, a suffragette named Mary Olney Brown went to vote, and like so many others at the time, her vote was rejected. Why? Because she was a woman. She said: ``The idea of a woman voting was regarded as an absurdity.''

Fifty years later, thanks to the tireless efforts of women like Mary Olney Brown, that longstanding injustice finally began to change when this Chamber passed the 19th Amendment to guarantee women's right to vote.

Today, as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of that important milestone in the march for equality, it is inspiring to see how far women have come over the last century. When we passed the 19th Amendment, there was only one woman in Congress--Jeannette Rankin. Before I ran for the Senate in 1992, there were two women Senators. I was very proud to join the Senate in 1993 and to join with Senator Barbara Mikulski, who is here today, and we became six women in the Senate. Today, there are 25 women serving in the Senate and 102 in the House of Representatives. Today, women are Governors, Fortune 500 CEOs, Nobel Prize-winning researchers, and candidates for President.

It is clear we have come a long way, but we still have more work to do. Women may have more representation, but we still make up less than a quarter of Congress. Women of color are still particularly underrepresented. And we still have some ceilings left to crack. Women are still paid less than men for the same work, and the same gap is even wider for women of color. Women still bear most of the burden of being a working parent, especially when so many lack access to affordable childcare and paid family leave. Nearly 50 years after Roe v. Wade was decided, women are still fighting to defend their right to make their own decisions about their own bodies.

These injustices even extend to voting rights. Even after the 19th Amendment was ratified, many women of color were still denied the right to vote by discriminatory barriers designed to keep them from the ballot box. Today, there are still far too many States that have put into effect voter-suppression efforts that disproportionately hurt communities of color, like harsh voter ID laws, limits on early voting, polling machines, voting locations, and ``exact match'' requirements that make it easy to purge someone from the voter rolls due to a typo.

After all the years women spent fighting for their right to vote, it is unacceptable that these kinds of efforts would strip that right away from anyone, which is why we need to pass legislation to restore the Voting Rights Act to its full power to protect the rights of voters across our country.

While there is still a lot of work ahead to make good on the promise of the 19th Amendment and make sure that everyone in our country who is entitled to vote is actually able to vote and that every woman is able to exercise all of her rights under our Constitution, I am confident we can get there, and I want to say why.

After 2016, I watched as women across the country stood up, spoke out, and fought back. I saw as much energy as I have seen in my lifetime as women joined together against countless different efforts to roll back the clock on their rights. I saw millions of women turn out to march for their rights, and then I saw millions of women turn out to exercise those rights last November. And what happened? They broke records and barriers across the country, and afterwards, several States started breaking down some of the barriers that were put up to block people from voting. I believe that momentum is going to continue to build, especially as women continue to reach out to other women to build a bigger and more inclusive coalition.

So today, as we celebrate the Senate vote to pass the 19th Amendment, I want to not only remember how hard women fought to get that right to vote but to promise that we are going to keep fighting just as hard to protect it for everyone in this country, and then we are going to keep using it to fight hard for the change we want to see in our communities.

Thank you.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, as ranking member on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, I wish to honor a public servant who established a remarkable legacy as a passionate champion for gender equality, Lenora Lapidus.

Lenora fought for the rights of all Americans. Over the course of her career, Lenora distinguished herself as a civil rights leader. She began working at the ACLU in 1988 as a summer intern and rose to serve as legal director of the ACLU of New Jersey and led the Women's Rights Project since 2001. At the ACLU, Lenora fought tirelessly in the courts on behalf of women and girls, winning cases that pushed us to respond to gender-based violence and ensured that combat positions in the military were open to all Americans, among many other cases.

Lenora was also a tireless champion for improving lives through policy. She played an important role in the Be HEARD Act, legislation I introduced this Congress along with many others, which is the first comprehensive plan to fight harassment in the workplace. Lenora made sure the fight for gender equality included all women, including low- wage workers whose stories are too often ignored or forgotten. Her legacy is a testament to the work and passion she brought to every fight against injustice. Lenora is irreplaceable, and her loss will be felt by all of us who worked with her.

I hope my colleagues will join me in recognizing the life and important work of Lenora.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business.

Mr. President, I want to start today by expressing my appreciation to all of my colleagues who will be out here today speaking out and to the women and men nationwide who are doing the same today in their own communities.

In the last few weeks, we have seen some of the most blatant and cruel efforts yet to deny women access to a safe, legal abortion. We have seen legislation so extreme, it would even block a 12-year-old survivor of rape from getting an abortion and sentence healthcare providers to prison for providing safe, medically sound care to their patients, which is their responsibility.

The extreme politicians behind these cruel abortion bans are not stopping in Alabama or Missouri or anywhere else; they want to take these bans all the way to the Supreme Court. They want to allow Brett Kavanaugh to do what President Trump and Republicans chose him to do-- roll back the decision in Roe v. Wade that established a woman's constitutionally protected right to make her own decisions about her own body and her own healthcare.

They are pushing for this even though they know as well as we do that without the ability to exercise that right, women lose their lives; even though they know just as well as we do that without this right, doctors will be blocked from providing medically appropriate care. Let me be frank. Extreme conservatives will push these abortion bans all the way to the Supreme Court even though they know--or maybe even because they do know--that in a world where women cannot control what happens to their own bodies, they are less able to plan their family and stay financially secure and independent. That means they are less free and less equal.

I am not going to stand for that, and Senate Democrats are not going to stand for that either. I am proud to be on the floor today with a number of my colleagues who will be here standing for what our Constitution confirms is true: Women have the right to access safe, legal abortion, and this makes our country stronger because women are absolutely critical to our country's strength. I am proud to be making clear that even in the face of relentless attacks on women's health and rights, we are not going to back down one bit.

The truth is, there are certain extreme politicians around the country who want to take us backward to the ``Mad Men'' era or, honestly, quite a bit before that. But they aren't speaking for our country--quite the opposite. In fact, the vast majority of women and men nationwide, including those from all different backgrounds, agree that abortion should be safe and it should be legal, just as our Constitution says. Those people are watching now. They are speaking up, and they are absolutely going to remember who stood up to protect women's health and rights and who pushed to take those rights away.

We have a number of Senators who will be speaking about this today, and I want to thank them for being here today.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I am honored to pay tribute to Joel Courreges, a Washingtonian, a marine, and commander of the Disabled American Veterans, Chapter 5, upon his passing.

Joel Courreges was a man who never stopped serving his community, his State, and his country. Joel served our Nation as a marine in the Vietnam war, returning with disabilities both visible and invisible. Having seen firsthand how difficult the transition home can be, he made it his mission to smooth the path for his fellow veterans as they returned from service. Joel became the commander of the Disabled American Veterans, Chapter 5, in Bremerton, WA. In this role, he not only dedicated countless hours to helping veterans file claims with the VA and making sure they could make their appointments, he even drove them himself if they couldn't get there on their own.

But that wasn't all. As Joel saw what more and more veterans were going through, he realized the system wasn't working. Too many veterans, especially those with PTSD and other wounds of war beneath the surface, were getting caught up in courts that didn't understand their unique needs and weren't prepared or designed to help them get back on their feet. Because of Joel's drive and vision, the Kitsap County Veterans Court was created, with the goal of helping the men and women who sacrificed to defend our freedoms get a hand up when they were most in need.

Having seen Joel's efforts firsthand, I know without a doubt that his dedication to public service lifted countless others, especially veterans who have given our country so much, and helped them lead the fulfilling lives they deserve. I will always be grateful to Joel for his kindness, his generosity of spirit, and his determination to make a difference. My thoughts are with his family and all those who loved him.

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

Mr. President, I want to start today by saying I am really appalled by the extreme, cruel, shameful abortion ban that was passed yesterday in Alabama. That legislation is nothing short of an attack on women, and it is part of a larger effort we are seeing today around the country to take away the constitutional right of women to safe, legal abortion and allowing politicians to make decisions for women about their bodies, their health, and their lives instead of trusting doctors and women.

I want every woman reading the news this morning and wondering what this means for you, your family, and for your granddaughters to know I am with you, and I am going to keep fighting for you every step of the way.

I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business.

Madam President, this week, families across our country are preparing to celebrate Mother's Day and recognize the hard work that women do to support their families and build a brighter future in their communities.

Here in Congress, we should be working to help moms back in Washington State and across the country. Unfortunately, instead of looking for ways to support women, President Trump has been pushing an ideological agenda that undermines their health, reproductive rights and freedoms, and economic security.

When it comes to healthcare, President Trump is working to sabotage the care moms and their families rely on. He changed Federal rules to let insurance companies sell junk coverage that does not cover maternity care, and he is arguing in court to strike down protections for women and people with preexisting conditions in all plans insurers sell.

Instead of supporting the Title X Family Planning Program, which has a history of bipartisan support and a tremendous track record helping women get critical, low-cost family planning and preventive healthcare services, President Trump is chipping away at it and working to strip title X grants from Planned Parenthood, which serves tens of thousands of women in my home State of Washington each year and millions more nationwide, including mothers like Shannon.

Shannon first went to Planned Parenthood when she was 18 for what turned out to be endometriosis. It is a condition that causes severe menstrual pain and can affect fertility. Thanks to the treatment she received at Planned Parenthood, today Shannon is managing her chronic pain and raising an adorable little girl.

When I was in Seattle a few weeks ago, another constituent, Cindy, shared how a routine screening at Planned Parenthood saved her life by detecting cancer early on and giving her the head start she needed to beat it. Today Cindy is not just a survivor; she is a mother because she was able to get pregnant after she went into remission.

We should be supporting providers that help women like them get the care they need, not burdening them with restrictions designed to force out Planned Parenthood or gag clauses that prevent providers from even discussing a patient's right to a safe, legal abortion. Moms deserve better.

Unfortunately President Trump's attacks on women's reproductive rights go well beyond his changes to the title X program. Since day one, he has been working to jam our courts full of far-right judges to appease extreme Republicans who want to see Roe v. Wade struck down. When President Trump nominated Justice Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, we heard from women and men across the country, concerned about what his confirmation would mean. Countless women shared their personal stories about what life was like before Roe v. Wade and what the right to get a safe, legal abortion has meant to their families.

So while Republicans continue to press ahead with extreme, harmful legislation--like the bill that was just passed in Georgia--and President Trump continues to tell outright lies meant to demonize women and their healthcare providers, people are going to continue calling out those lies, calling out the attempts to turn back the clock, and standing in solidarity with women across the country.

President Trump's harmful attacks on women's healthcare are hardly the only time he has ignored how his policies would hurt women and their families. He has also cruelly and unnecessarily separated hundreds of migrant parents and their children. Yolany is a

mother who is being detained in Tacoma, WA, while her 6-year-old son has been sent all the way across the country to New York. According to media reports, they were kept apart for almost 2 months before they were reunited. Their story is just one of so many pointless tragedies President Trump's heartless family separation policy has caused.

Moms deserve better, especially when there are so many other challenges on which they need us to lead. There is the maternal mortality crisis and the appalling fact that our country has the highest maternal death rate in the developed world. We know this crisis is worse for women of color--for African-American women in particular, who face an even higher maternal death rate. Because of a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we also know that three out of five pregnancy-related deaths in our country are preventable.

We should be working together to take action to stop so many mothers from dying in childbirth and building on the $50 million Maternal Mortality Initiative that I fought to enact in this year's funding bill to expand evidence-based programs to prevent maternal mortality and advance maternal health equity.

There is the childcare crisis and the reality that for far too many parents, quality, affordable childcare is not available. One mother in Washington State told me how she struck out with more than 10 childcare centers before she finally found one that could care for her son, and when she did find it, it cost her more than her mortgage. We should be working to make sure all parents can go to work and know their children will be well cared for.

We should also be fighting for paid family leave so that people will have the time they need to welcome new members to their families and start building those bonds that will last a lifetime and so that no parent will have to choose between a paycheck and caring for a sick child.

At a time when there is so much we could be doing to make life better for mothers and fathers and families across the country, it is disappointing that President Trump has spent so much time looking for ways to make things worse.

While the Trump administration may not be fighting for families, moms are. Just last week, I attended a rally here in Washington, DC, and met a mom who came all the way across the country, from Washington State, to speak up for families like hers. I know what it is like to be in her shoes--or tennis shoes, I should say. I also know that when people like her speak up and fight for change, they do make a difference, which is why I am so inspired by the moms whose stories I have shared today and by the many others who shared their stories with me back in my home State of Washington.

I wish all the moms out there a happy Mother's Day. I know you are going to keep fighting for your families, and I want you to know we are going to keep fighting for you.

I yield the floor.