[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 38 (Wednesday, February 26, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H1204-H1206]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 AUTHORIZING EVERY WORD WE UTTER MONUMENT TO ESTABLISH A COMMEMORATIVE 
                                  WORK

  Mr. NEGUSE. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 473) to authorize the Every Word We Utter Monument to 
establish a commemorative work in the District of Columbia and its 
environs, and for other purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                H.R. 473

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. AUTHORIZATION TO ESTABLISH COMMEMORATIVE WORK.

       (a) In General.--The Every Word We Utter Monument may 
     establish a commemorative work on Federal land in the 
     District of Columbia and its environs to commemorate the 
     women's suffrage movement and the passage of the 19th 
     Amendment to the Constitution, which gave women the right to 
     vote.
       (b) Compliance With Standards For Commemorative Works.--The 
     establishment of the commemorative work under this section 
     shall be in accordance with chapter 89 of title 40, United 
     States Code (commonly known as the ``Commemorative Works 
     Act'').
       (c) Prohibition on the Use of Federal Funds.--
       (1) In general.--Federal funds may not be used to pay any 
     expense of the establishment of the commemorative work under 
     this section.
       (2) Responsibility of the every word we utter monument.--
     The Every Word We Utter Monument shall be solely responsible 
     for acceptance of contributions for, and payment of the 
     expenses of, the establishment of the commemorative work 
     under this section.

[[Page H1205]]

       (d) Deposit of Excess Funds.--
       (1) In general.--If upon payment of all expenses for the 
     establishment of the memorial (including the maintenance and 
     preservation amount required by section 8906(b)(1) of title 
     40, United States Code), there remains a balance of funds 
     received for the establishment of the commemorative work, the 
     Every Word We Utter Monument shall transmit the amount of the 
     balance to the Secretary of the Interior for deposit in the 
     account provided for in section 8906(b)(3) of title 40, 
     United States Code.
       (2) On expiration of authority.--If upon expiration of the 
     authority for the commemorative work under section 8903(e) of 
     title 40, United States Code, there remains a balance of 
     funds received for the establishment of the commemorative 
     work, the Every Word We Utter Monument shall transmit the 
     amount of the balance to a separate account with the National 
     Park Foundation for memorials, to be available to the 
     Secretary of the Interior or Administrator (as appropriate) 
     following the process provided in section 8906(b)(4) of title 
     40, United States Code, for accounts established under 
     8906(b)(2) or (3) of title 40, United States Code.

     SEC. 2. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS.

       The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 
     complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall 
     be determined by reference to the latest statement titled 
     ``Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation'' for this Act, 
     submitted for printing in the Congressional Record by the 
     Chairman of the House Budget Committee, provided that such 
     statement has been submitted prior to the vote on passage.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Colorado (Mr. Neguse) and the gentleman from California (Mr. 
McClintock) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Colorado.


                             General Leave

  Mr. NEGUSE. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on the measure under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Colorado?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. NEGUSE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, ``Every word we utter, every act we perform, waft unto 
innumerable circles beyond.'' Those are the words Elizabeth Cady 
Stanton that inspired the movement for H.R. 473, which will create 
Washington, D.C.'s first statue memorializing the women's suffrage 
movement.
  Today, we have the opportunity to honor the diverse and 
multigenerational group of women who fought for decades to secure women 
the right to vote.
  This bill is strongly bipartisan and, in accordance with the 
Commemorative Works Act, will cost nothing to the Federal Government. 
It received positive feedback from the National Capital Memorial 
Advisory Commission and passed the Natural Resources Committee with 
bipartisan support in October.
  Leading women's organizations are in support of H.R. 473, including 
the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission and multiple chapters of the 
American Association of University Women as well as the League of Women 
Voters.
  I am honored to carry this legislation that recognizes and honors the 
suffragists' tireless efforts and the ripples of hope and civic 
progress they have elicited for generations.
  Madam Speaker, I urge your support for this commonsense tribute to 
our Nation's history, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  This coming August 18 will mark the 100th anniversary of the 
ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which, after a 
century of earnest protest, extended the right to vote to all women.
  Forty years before that, suffragette Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote 
admiringly to Lucretia Mott. She was born in 1793 during President 
Washington's administration. At the time that Elizabeth Cady Stanton 
wrote to her, she was in her 88th and final year of life. Mott was a 
Quaker, a major voice in the abolitionist movement, and later in the 
suffragette movement. Reflecting on her leadership in these just causes 
and the effect that it had on the entire Nation, Elizabeth Cady Stanton 
said:

       One who has lived 88 years, reflecting ever the sober 
     virtues of the true wife and mother, the earnest reformer, 
     the religious teacher, both in the schoolroom and Friends 
     Meeting, must have exerted a strong influence for good on our 
     young, impressionable Nation. When we remember that every 
     word we utter, every act we perform, in all our waking hours, 
     the very atmosphere, the combination all our faculties 
     creates have their constant effect, on everyone who comes 
     within the circle of our individual influence, and through 
     them are wafted by word, by letter and by thought, to 
     innumerable other circles beyond, when we try to estimate all 
     this, we can in a measure appreciate the elevating influence 
     on a nation of just one grand life.

  The Every Word We Utter Monument takes those words as a testament to 
the patient influence of so many who finally won adoption of the 19th 
Amendment, and with it, the fulfillment of American democracy. Those 
early suffragettes, like Mott and Stanton, never lived to see the 
culmination of their life's work, but the Every Word We Utter Monument 
will ensure that their example and achievement is memorialized in 
Washington, D.C., as are all of the great men and women and all of the 
great deeds that built this country, as Lincoln said, into the last 
best hope of mankind on this Earth.
  This memorial, which will be built without use of Federal funds, will 
serve as a lasting tribute to the brave and intelligent women who 
fought to secure voting rights for all Americans.
  Madam Speaker, I urge adoption of the measure, and I reserve the 
balance of my time.
  Mr. NEGUSE. Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from 
California for his remarks, and I couldn't agree with him more. I 
appreciate his support of this important bill.
  Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, I am prepared to 
close, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to 
the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tipton).
  Mr. TIPTON. Madam Speaker, last year marked the 100th anniversary of 
the ratification of the 19th Amendment. While I wish the House would 
have passed this bill last year to honor the centennial anniversary of 
the suffragettes' decades-long fight to win the right to vote, I am 
glad we are debating this bill now.
  The Every Word We Utter Monument will serve as a continual reminder 
of the courage shown by women engaged in the suffrage movement, and we 
must all work to do what we can for the future to be able to ensure 
quality and inclusion.
  I appreciate the opportunity to have worked with my colleagues from 
Colorado on this bill and especially my colleague from the Second 
District, Mr. Neguse. I have stood across from him a few times on this 
floor, and it is nice to be in agreement on a public lands bill that we 
are able to work together on now. It is a bill that will help us bring 
to light Loveland sculptor, Jane DeDecker's, work to Washington. I 
think it is an adequate effort to be able to help recognize the 
suffrage movement and the contribution of women to our Nation.
  Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. NEGUSE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
  I want to thank my colleague and neighbor from the Third District for 
his very kind remarks and for his support of this bill, and my fellow 
Members of the Colorado delegation for their unanimous support of this 
bill.
  Madam Speaker, I must take a moment to thank the advocates who have 
worked on this legislation for many years, Jane DeDecker, who is a 
constituent of mine in the wonderful community of Loveland, Colorado, 
who conceptualized the statue for which our bill is named; and the 
president of the Every Word We Utter board, Jody Shadduck-McNally, who 
also worked tirelessly. Both of these women have worked very hard to 
ensure that this piece of women's history and the long legacy of 
women's civic engagement that followed is commemorated effectively and 
can stand as an inspiration for generations to come.
  I would close just on a personal note. As the Speaker knows, my 
daughter, Natalie, is just a year and a half old now. As she grows up, 
I want her to feel represented, empowered, and assured of the 
fundamental role that she plays in

[[Page H1206]]

our society. When Natalie visits our Nation's Capitol, she will 
hopefully be able to visit this statue and learn of the great struggle 
to ensure her equality and be assured America's sons and daughters 
stand on equal footing at the doors of opportunity.
  In reverence to the brave women who fought for equality in the past, 
and on behalf of all of those who will follow, I thank my fellow 
Members for their consideration in support of this legislation.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                              {time}  1315

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Neguse) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 473, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________