[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 40 (Thursday, March 21, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H2655-H2656]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California [Mrs. Seastrand] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mrs. SEASTRAND. Mr. Speaker, it is a wonderful privilege to stand 
here to commemorate Women's History Month. I stand before you tonight 
to share my belief that the 104th Congress has done so much to further 
the cause of women, women and their rights, which is so important not 
only to me but to my mother and to my daughter Heidi.
  I speak of women's rights in the broadest sense. I believe that the 
interests of women are inseparable from those of the rest of our 
Nation. Women, men, children all have a stake in the strength and 
prosperity of America. What is good for our country is good for all of 
us.

[[Page H2656]]

  We in this Congress have taken great strides towards balancing the 
Federal budget, restraining an intrusive government, and limiting 
military interventionism. These are noble goals. Though yet to be fully 
attained, they are within the reach of this Congress and will benefit 
men and women alike.
  The continuing struggle to balance the budget through the judicious 
restraint of Federal spending is fraught with implications for women's 
rights. Successfully balancing the budget will provide the following 
benefits for women and all Americans:
  It is going to create 6.1 million new job opportunities in the early 
part of the 21st century. The best way to promote opportunities for 
women is to create an economy which can accommodate all those who wish 
to work.
  A balanced budget would also bring a 2 percent decline in interest 
rates. Women would have easier access to home, business, and education 
loans, thereby increasing their economic and educational opportunities.
  A balanced budget would definitely mean that we would have a future 
free of debt. We as mothers would bequeath to our children a future of 
greater opportunity and a government of increased virtue and vitality.
  We in this Congress have labored mightily to scale back the size and 
scope of an overly intrusive government. With the restraint of 
government comes an increase in liberty and enterprise. Excessive 
regulation is the bane of the individual entrepreneur.
  The Republican Party has vigorously championed the elimination of 
needless bureaucratic obstacles for private enterprise. In an 
increasingly competitive job market women can only benefit from an 
environment which encourages the creation of small business. Government 
must step out of the way of the women entrepreneur.
  By opposing the overtly and overly interventionist policies of the 
Clinton Administration, we of this Congress have done our best to keep 
our troops home and their families together. The deployment of United 
States soldiers to Bosnia serves no American interest and needlessly 
puts the lives of our young men and women, in jeopardy. The women who 
have been sent to Bosnia have had to leave their families, their 
husbands, their children behind. The women whose husbands have been 
deployed are left with added financial and parenting responsibilities. 
Restraining foreign intervention is good for women and good for our 
country.
  Mr. Speaker, as we take time to reflect upon the contributions of 
women throughout history, let us not diminish their legacy by 
concentrating narrowly upon the ideological agenda of a few. Those 
great women who came before us struggled for equality of opportunity, 
not the equality of result. They struggled for increased liberty, not 
the security bestowed by government.
  We in the Republican Party are the rightful inheritors of this noble 
legacy. Our efforts to promote individual liberty mirror those 
wonderful women's struggles for freedom of opportunity. Let us act 
worthy of them by continuing to fight for a much brighter future, one 
in which the strength and dignity of women are allowed to flourish in 
an atmosphere of liberty and abundance.

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