[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3645]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       TODAY WE RAISE OUR VOICES

  (Ms. FRANKEL of Florida asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. FRANKEL of Florida. Mr. Speaker, today is International Women's 
Day, a day without women. I am going to join millions of women in 
recognizing the important economic power of women in the United States 
and around the globe.
  In a few minutes, I will exit this Chamber with colleagues to show 
solidarity with our sisters, who are staying away from normal duties 
and mainstream commerce to call attention to the inequities that women 
and gender nonconforming people continue to face. We are wearing red to 
signify our love for our sisterhood and our passionate energy to pursue 
measures that will advance the lives of women and families, such as 
equal pay, paid family leave, quality affordable child care, access to 
Federal health care, and freedom from violence.
  In Congress, Democrats will resist efforts to take us back from hard-
earned gains, standing strong against the unrelenting attempts by 
Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act, defund Planned 
Parenthood, and block access to full reproductive care. In the words of 
the Women's March, today we raise our voices to say that women's rights 
are human rights, regardless of a woman's race, ethnicity, religion, 
immigration status, and so forth. When women succeed, the world 
succeeds.

                          ____________________