[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 107 (Monday, August 3, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H6881-H6882]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       CONGRESSIONAL WOMEN'S CAUCUS ``MAGNIFICENT 7'' LEGISLATION

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I come this morning as the cochair of the 
Congressional Women's Caucus. There are now 55 women in the House of 
Representatives, 55 women strong, a high point and a high number.
  For 21 years there has been a Congressional Women's Caucus. That 
caucus has been responsible for the lead of much of the most important 
family legislation to pass this House, from the Family Medical Leave 
Act to the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the Violence Against Women 
Act.
  We have normally had a very long legislative agenda with every woman 
Member putting her piece of legislation in and the caucus embracing all 
of that legislation. This year, we have decided on a more focused 
approach. With 55

[[Page H6882]]

women in the Congress, we think there should be a number of bills that 
simply must pass. We have designated 7 must-pass pieces of legislation, 
and we call them the ``Magnificent 7.'' They have been chosen because 
they are easily consensus pieces of legislation, even easy pieces of 
legislation to pass. We are seeing both leaders; we have already seen 
the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt), and this week we will be 
seeing the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrich).
  The focused approach the Women's Caucus has adopted this year is 
already paying off. We have seen pass this House some provisions of the 
Violence Against Women Act and the reauthorization of that act was one 
of the ``Magnificent 7.'' There are other provisions of the act due to 
come forward, we think, with the bill of the Subcommittee on Commerce, 
Justice, State, The Judiciary, and Related Agencies of the Committee on 
Appropriations.
  We have seen another of our priorities pass the House and the Senate, 
which is contraceptive coverage for Federal employees, so that women 
who are Federal employees have choices of contraception. This is very 
important for women's health, since some forms of contraception do not 
work for some women; others are dangerous to the health of some women.
  The Mammography Standards Act is a priority we would like to see pass 
this week. This is another easy piece of legislation. It is a 
reauthorization of a bill that would set standards so that when 
mammograms are read, they are read correctly because the machinery is 
in good standing. This bill, the Mammography Standards Act, has passed 
the Senate; it is now here in the Commerce, Justice, State, The 
Judiciary, and Related Agencies bill. We have been promised by the 
Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, the Judiciary and Related 
Agencies that they will move this bill forward, and we ask them to move 
it quickly.
  There are 4 other pieces of legislation that would be easy to pass. 
The Women-Owned Business resolution, H. Con. Res. 313, simply calls 
upon Federal agencies to review their own recommendations for the 
purpose of improving women-owned businesses' access to Federal 
procurement. There is the Commission on the Advancement of Women in 
Science and Engineering. At a time when the country is begging for 
scientists, engineers, and mathematicians, this commission would look 
at the barriers that keep women from entering and moving forward in 
these vital professions.
  The sixth and seventh are a bill, any of 3 that are pending, that 
would forbid genetic discrimination, and finally, a bill that would 
allow child care legislation to come forward. On child care we have no 
preference; we have only principles. We think that the 105th Congress 
should not close without finally coming forward with the first 
significant child care legislation ever to pass.
  These are the 7 priorities of the Women's Caucus, which for 21 years 
has led this Congress, and which this year asked the Congress, the 
House and the Senate, to focus on 7 pieces of legislation which would 
allow every Member, male or female, to go back and say, I have done 
something for women and children; I have done more than talk about 
families. I have helped pass vital pieces of legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, we can do it if we focus on the Magnificent 7. We can do 
it because these bills have been chosen precisely because this is the 
kind of legislation, bipartisan in its very genesis, bipartisan in the 
way it is designed to embrace us all and to have us embrace these 
pieces of legislation.

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