[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9916]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      REPUBLICAN WOMEN IN CONGRESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn) for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, earlier this week my Republican female 
colleagues spent an hour on the floor of this great Chamber talking 
about why they have chosen to come to Congress, talking about why they 
have chosen to leave the private sector and come to the public sector, 
and talked about why it is so important, so vitally important that they 
chose to come as Republican women.
  I think that as you listened to that debate, their stories were 
inspiring. You realized the diversity of the background of the 
Republican women that have come to this Chamber, the richness of the 
experiences, the life experiences that they have brought with them. You 
also realized how solidly and firmly committed they are to 
strengthening and preserving this great Nation.
  I think it's fair to say that our Republican philosophy of government 
centers on faith, family, freedom, hope, opportunity, and preserving 
those tenets that really underpin this Nation.
  I can say that, as a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a small business 
owner, I've had the blessing of learning firsthand how very important 
it is that we take our conservative philosophy of life and government 
into the public sector of our Nation. Daily we work to preserve 
opportunities for all of our children and our grandchildren.
  We work to make certain that each and every child in our presence 
knows the value of, and realizes there is an opportunity for them to 
achieve the American Dream; that it is a good thing, a healthy thing 
for them to dream big dreams and to work very hard to make those dreams 
come true.
  We know, and we teach our children in our families and our extended 
families, in our classrooms, that if you work hard, you exercise 
discipline, you show integrity, and you put others first, that 
inevitably, you're going to prevail and enjoy seeing your dreams come 
true in the marketplace of products and ideas.
  We all know, and we work hard so that our children don't have to work 
harder. We work hard so that we're giving more opportunities to the 
next generation.
  That is why you're going to see our Republican Conference women 
continue to lead the fight on preserving jobs, rebuilding jobs, 
rebuilding this economy, making certain that the 21st century economy 
is jobs-rich for our children and our grandchildren.
  That is why we have taken the lead on the issue of health care. Women 
are the drivers when it comes to health care decisions, and we are 
committed to making certain that we reverse this course that we are on 
with ObamaCare, that we push to repeal that law, and that we make 
certain we preserve access to affordable health care for everyone in 
this Nation.
  We are committed to strengthening our Nation, our economy, jobs, 
strengthening our people, and making certain that we secure freedom for 
future generations.

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