[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 190 (Friday, December 20, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7274-S7275]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE NATIONAL MONUMENT LOCATION ACT

  Ms. BALDWIN. Madam President, as if in legislative session and 
notwithstanding rule XXII, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 1318, the Women's 
Suffrage National Monument Location Act, which was received from the 
House and is at the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 1318) to authorize the location of a monument 
     on the National Mall to commemorate and honor the women's 
     suffrage movement and the passage of the 19th Amendment to 
     the Constitution, and for other purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Ms. BALDWIN. I ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read 
a third time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill was ordered to a third reading and was read the third time.
  Ms. BALDWIN. I know of no further debate on the bill.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. If there is no further debate, the bill having 
been read the third time, the question is, Shall the bill pass?
  The bill (H.R. 1318) was passed.
  Ms. BALDWIN. I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be 
considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Ms. BALDWIN. Madam President, I rise today to speak to the Women's 
Suffrage National Monument Location Act to designate the Women's 
Suffrage National Monument be built on the National Mall.
  I was proud to introduce this bill with Senator Blackburn, as she and 
I represent both the first and the final States to ratify the 19th 
Amendment and grant women the right to vote across the Nation.
  The National Mall honors some of the most important features of our 
shared American story. Conspicuously

[[Page S7275]]

absent from this portrayal of our Nation's history, however, is the 
story of women's suffrage. In fact, the National Mall receives over 24 
million visitors annually, and despite there being 40 commemorative 
works on the National Mall, none of those are dedicated to women. We 
have introduced this legislation to correct this glaring omission on 
the National Mall.
  Women's suffrage was only made possible through the fight of multiple 
generations of activists of all backgrounds, who joined together with 
the steadfast belief that our country must live up to its highest 
democratic ideals.
  Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott organized the first women's 
rights convention in Seneca Falls in 1848, where they declared ``that 
all men and women are created equal.''
  Sojourner Truth gave her famous ``Ain't I a woman'' speech in 1851, 
where she challenged the women's suffrage movement to include Black 
women.
  Susan B. Anthony was arrested in 1872 for violating the law and 
daring to cast her vote at the ballot box and went on to help found the 
National American Woman Suffrage Association in 1890.
  Carrie Chapman Catt, born in Ripon, WI, took up the helm of that 
organization after Anthony and traveled around the country, organizing 
for the ratification of the 19th Amendment.
  Inez Milholland led on horseback more than 8,000 marchers in the 1913 
Woman Suffrage Procession down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC.
  Ida B. Wells and Mary Church Terrell demanded that the movement 
include women of color by refusing to march at the back of that very 
demonstration.
  Alice Paul and Lucy Burns led acts of peaceful civil disobedience, 
including ``Silent Sentinels,'' who picketed at the White House 
continuously from 1917 to 1919.
  There are countless other women who fought and continue to fight for 
true equality for women in this country. Without the story of how women 
fought to secure our rightful participation in our democracy, our 
National Mall is incomplete.
  This monument is just as much about honoring our past as it is about 
inspiring our future. Every young girl, every child, and every adult 
who travels to our Nation's Capital should see themselves reflected 
there. They should know that they belong in the halls of government, 
and their stories belong in our Nation's history, and that they belong 
on the National Mall.
  With that, I would yield to the senior Senator from Tennessee, 
Senator Blackburn.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, I thank my colleague for her 
wonderful work on this issue.
  Since 2020, we have worked to recognize that 100-year celebration of 
women achieving the right to vote and to tell these stories. As she 
said, her State was the first. Tennessee was the 36th State.
  Our colleagues who have read about the War of the Roses and that 
summer of 1920, when suffragists descended on the capital in Nashville. 
Those who were for suffrage wore a yellow rose. Those who were antis--
as they were called--wore a red rose.
  Carrie Chapman Catt, Anne Dallas Dudley, and Ida B. Wells led this 
fight. And what a fight it was. And, finally, they pushed forward with 
the 36th State granting ratification.
  The histories in our States are rich on this issue, and we want all 
Americans to appreciate the work that went into women gaining that 
right to vote.
  My colleague mentioned that there are 40 monuments, memorials, 
statues, and historic sites on the Mall. Not a single one of these 40 
are specific to women; while 22 are dedicated to individual men, 10 to 
military history and veterans, 3 to foreign relations, 2 to private 
organizations, 1 to U.S. postal history, 1 to the history of the U.S. 
canals, and 1 to the history of horses. All of these have found their 
way onto the mall.
  What we have done is to work with the Park Service, find a place that 
would be perfect: The Mall's Constitution Gardens. It is a 50-acre 
space dedicated during our Nation's bicentennial as a living memorial 
to the founding of the Republic. In this garden, it is appropriate that 
we recognize the work of women to help preserve the freedoms and the 
liberties that we have here in this Nation.
  I thank my colleagues for passing this legislation. The House passed 
it unanimously last year, so it is appropriate as we finish and 
complete this 118th Congress, that we set aside time and that we pass 
this legislation to recognize the work--the powerful work--of women who 
gave so much of their life to support freedom, liberty, and voting 
rights.
  Ms. BALDWIN. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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