[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 16396-16397]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     FIGHTING FOR THE RIGHT TO VOTE

  (Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning to 
honor the 157th anniversary of the women's suffragette movement here in 
the United States. On this date in 1848, a historic meeting of women 
leaders took place in Seneca Falls, New York. Their initial gathering 
was the first step in the long and challenging road that led women to 
where I stand today.
  Like Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in their time, 
Republican

[[Page 16397]]

women are leading the fight to highlight the equal and full rights that 
American women enjoy, and to expand those rights to women around the 
globe.
  Many do not know that the Republican Party first introduced the 19th 
amendment in 1878. Four times in a row the amendment was actually 
defeated by the Democrat-controlled Senate. It was not until the 
Republican Party regained control of Congress in 1919 that the equal 
rights suffragette amendment finally passed both the House and the 
Senate.
  Republicans deserve credit for promoting the first woman to the 
highest court in the land and for advancing the rights of women around 
the world. Mr. Speaker, the Republican Party has a long and 
distinguished track record of championing women's issues.

                          ____________________