[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 798]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          NINETEENTH AMENDMENT

  (Mr. KAGEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. KAGEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize that it was on this 
day, as pointed out earlier by my freshman colleague, Bruce Bailey from 
Iowa, January 10, 1918, that the House of Representatives first voted 
to give women the right to vote by approving the 19th amendment to the 
Constitution of these United States.
  The State of Wisconsin became the first State to ratify the 
amendment. And following Wisconsin's lead, two-thirds of the States 
approved the amendment which became the law of the land. The 19th 
amendment gave women their full rights as citizens.
  It says, simply, citizens of the United States shall not be denied 
the right to vote on account of sex. The 19th amendment brought this 
Nation one step closer to fulfilling the promises enunciated by our 
Founders.
  As the first Chamber of Congress to approve the amendment, we showed 
the way, and the Senate followed.
  This Chamber took another historic step recently in fulfilling the 
promise of America's freedoms by electing Speaker  Nancy Pelosi as the 
first woman to hold the position of Speaker of the House.

                          ____________________