[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2306]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      RECOGNIZING FRANCES PERKINS

  (Ms. SCHAKOWSKY asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, 80 years ago today, Frances Perkins was 
sworn in as Secretary of Labor. This is Women's History Month, and 
Frances Perkins certainly made history.
  She was the first woman member in the history of the United States to 
be part of the Cabinet, and still holds the record as the longest 
serving Secretary of Labor. She brought us the Fair Labor Standards 
Act, giving working women and men fair wages, limits on overtime, and 
the right to organize. She was the architect of the Social Security 
Act.
  Frances Perkins helped bring us out of the Great Depression. And as 
we come out of the Great Recession, we need to ask what Frances Perkins 
would do today.
  She would fight to raise the minimum wage. Almost two-thirds of all 
minimum-wage workers are women. Many are the sole breadwinners for 
their families. She would defend Social Security against those who want 
to cut its very modest benefits.
  So today, we take time to remember Frances Perkins. Her message is 
still relevant today. Our Nation is stronger if we give working women--
and men--fair opportunities and treatment.

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