[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6750]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       WOMEN'S ECONOMIC SECURITY

  (Mrs. LAWRENCE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mrs. LAWRENCE. Mr. Speaker, I appear here today filled with a sense 
of great pride but also deeply troubled.
  I am proud of the work done by women every day in America, women like 
my grandmother, who raised family, put food on the table, and ensured 
that their children received the education and care that they deserved.
  I am offended that, as I stand here today, more than 50 years after 
President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into law, as a country, we 
are still, as women, seeking pay equality. Women are only earning 78 
cents to every dollar earned by a man. For women of color, that gap is 
even greater.
  I am deeply troubled by the lack of retirement security for women, 
American women, and all older Americans.
  Today, I am alarmed at our failure to provide women who work hard 
with basic benefits like paid sick leave and paid family and medical 
leave.
  I am not intimidated, as a Member of Congress, by these problems. I 
and my Democratic colleagues are energized and united to correct this 
page in American history because we know, when women succeed, America 
succeeds.

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