[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 95 (Tuesday, June 4, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3937-S3938]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                105TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 19TH AMENDMENT

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, 105 years ago today, Congress passed the 
19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote under the Constitution 
for the first time ever. In the 240-year history of our country, the 
passage of the 19th Amendment is, without question, one of America's 
best moments. It was one of the greatest leaps ever in our march to 
become a more perfect Union, but it was also, more importantly, a great 
culmination of decades of sacrifice, struggle, and persistence, much of 
which was centered in Upstate New York, I am proud to say, in Seneca 
Falls and other places. We cannot possibly name the countless women and 
Americans who sacrificed in ways big and small to secure for women the 
right to vote, but we honor their memories all the same.
  Today, I am wearing this yellow rose to honor that historic 
observance, and there will be a viewing for the original signed copy of 
the 19th Amendment today in the Capitol. I will be stopping by, and I 
encourage my colleagues to do the same, because it was truly a landmark 
moment for America.
  Of course, we celebrate today's anniversary of the passage of the 
19th Amendment being mindful of the great task still in front of us. 
More than a century stands between this generation and the generation 
that made it possible for women to vote, but in many ways, we still 
share in their struggle for greater justice and greater equality. We 
still carry the same moral duty they bore to make our Nation a more 
faithful reflection of our founding ideals. The march for equality for 
women and for all Americans is still not over.
  When the fundamental right of women to make their own choices about 
their bodies has been stolen from them, the march is still not over. 
When women are told by hard-right politicians that their healthcare 
decisions

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are not theirs to make and that they must travel, in some instances, 
across State lines and across time zones to access basic reproductive 
care, the march is still not over. When a radical, conservative, MAGA 
majority of the Supreme Court overturned decades of precedent by 
repealing the protections of Roe v. Wade, the march is still not over.
  On this 105th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, we 
must confront the ugly truth: that women, sadly, have fewer freedoms 
than they did just a few years ago. Let's remember that. As we are all 
commemorating the right to vote on this 105th anniversary of the 
passage of the 19th Amendment, we must confront the ugly truth that 
women, sadly, have fewer freedoms than they did just a few years ago.

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