[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 81 (Wednesday, May 15, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H3836]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1800
                       WOMEN IN THE ARMED FORCES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2019, the Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania 
(Ms. Houlahan) for 30 minutes.


                             General Leave

  Ms. HOULAHAN. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
on the subject of my Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Pennsylvania?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. HOULAHAN. Madam Speaker, there are over a dozen caucuses in 
Congress today that address issues facing servicemembers and/or 
veterans, but none of these are geared towards addressing the issues 
faced by the fastest growing cohort in our Nation's military: women.
  Today, that changes.
  My name is Chrissy Houlahan, and I represent Pennsylvania's Sixth 
Congressional District. Today I am announcing the launch of the first 
ever Servicewomen and Women Veterans Congressional Caucus.
  When the draft ended in 1973, women represented just 2 percent of the 
enlisted force and 8 percent of the officer corps. Today, those numbers 
have grown to 16 percent and 18 percent, respectively. Currently, there 
are 2 million living women veterans in the United States, and in the 
next 25 years, women veterans are projected to nearly double their 
population and will account for one in five living veterans.
  We cannot afford to wait, and the time to act is now.
  Twenty-seven years ago, I gave birth to my first child, my daughter 
Molly. I was Active Duty at the time, and I was given 6 weeks of 
maternity leave. When I returned, I intended to enroll my daughter in 
the on-base childcare but discovered that there was a 6-month-long 
waiting list. I looked for private care in Boston where I was serving, 
but the cost was too high. In fact, my entire paycheck would have gone 
to childcare.
  I was a lieutenant in the Air Force, stationed at Hanscom Air Force 
Base at the time, and my assignment, my job, was to determine what kind 
of information people needed and in what order and in what visual 
display when ballistic missiles were raining down on them and the end 
of the world was coming.
  I am a very well-educated engineer. I became an engineer in the Air 
Force, and yet I couldn't, with my skills and my education, figure out 
how I was supposed to make ends meet and make childcare work to fulfill 
my military responsibilities and serve our country.
  I was going against the system in many ways, a new mother serving in 
the military with a working civilian husband. That is not what most 
people picture when they picture a traditional military family. It 
wasn't even what I saw as a young girl when I was growing up.
  I was the daughter and granddaughter of career Naval officers and 
career Navy wives, and I watched as my mother and my grandmother moved 
us all around the country and cared for us while my father and my 
grandfather served. My mother's job was to create a sense of home in 
every new place that we moved. Her job was my brother and I.
  So there I was with a new baby of my own and a mission to deal with 
ballistic missile defense, no viable options for childcare, and working 
within a system that had not yet caught up with me and my career. So I 
decided to make a very difficult choice, and I separated from the Air 
Force.
  You see, at that time, I didn't really have any role models, anyone 
that I knew or could look up to who had walked in my boots, so to 
speak, and had navigated being a new mother while simultaneously 
serving our country. So few women were really high up in the Air 
Force's ranks at the time, so there were very few I knew who could show 
me what Active Duty looked like as a mother.
  But that is changing. In 2019, women represent the fastest growing 
cohort in America's military. More and more women are hearing that same 
call that I and my friends here heard--the call to serve.
  What is upsetting, though, is 27 years later, despite women's 
increased presence across all branches of the military, we all still 
struggle with many of the same issues, including access to quality and 
affordable childcare, and I find this unacceptable.
  In this 116th Congress, we set a record. For the first time in 
history, there are more than two women veterans serving in the House of 
Representatives. There are now four. It was the realization that I was 
surrounded by three other women who served our country that inspired me 
to start this caucus.
  Now is the time to address these issues that have been plaguing our 
servicewomen and women veterans for years, and that is what today is 
about. That is what the Servicewomen and Women Veterans Congressional 
Caucus is about.
  We four women are here to enact change to better support the brave 
women who have also answered the call to serve. We four are here as 
four women veterans who will lead this caucus with our lived 
experiences in the Armed Forces and who will evaluate the unique issues 
that our women face and who will work towards enacting legislation that 
better serves them and better serves their families.
  This is not a Democratic issue nor is it a Republican issue. It is 
neither a man's issue nor a woman's issue. It is an intrinsically 
American and human issue, and that is why this caucus has members from 
both sides of the aisle, and that is why we have veterans and 
nonveterans as participants, men and women.
  This caucus is comprised of people who are held together by a shared 
understanding that, when Congress neglects its duty to support the men 
and women who serve, it hasn't done its job. It undermines our 
country's national security and our military's readiness.
  I remember thinking to myself when I got here that I was just one 
person. Then when I got here, I met Representative Tulsi Gabbard, 
Representative Elaine Luria, Representative Mikie Sherrill, and the one 
became four. And now, today, I am launching that Servicewomen and Women 
Veterans Congressional Caucus, the very first caucus in our country's 
history to specifically address the issues facing servicewomen and 
women veterans.
  We are more than 50 strong in number now; 1 became 4, and 4 became 
more than 50. We have a mission. We have our marching orders. And 
speaking as an Air Force veteran, I can promise I won't stop fighting 
until our mission has been accomplished.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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