objection. ms. collins: madam president, as the snoor senior -- as the senior republican woman in the senate today, i am pleased to begin a series of speeches, along with my good friend from california, the senior democratic woman senator, senator dianne feinstein to commemorate a significant milestone in our nation's history, 100 years ago today the senate finally passed the 19th amendment which affirmed the right of women to vote in elections. madam president, all of us recall that in 1775, as the second continental congress was forging a new nation conceived in liberty, be a gale add -- abigail adams admonished her husband john to, quote, remember the ladies, end quote. despite abigail adams' advice, it took a century and a half for women to adhief their right -- achieve their rightful place as full u.s. citizens. on june 4, 1919, the united states senate passed the 19th amendment to our constitution. the courage and determination exhibited by generations of women and men were rewarded in just two sentences, the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied abridged by the united states or by any state on account of sex. congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. that's it, madam president. those are the words of the 19th amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. it is an honor today to join my 24 women senate colleagues in cosponsoring a resolution commemorating this centennial. the yellow roses that we are wearing are an historic and enduring symbol of the victory that we celebrate today. it has often been said, as emmerson put it, that there is properly no history, only biography. the story women's suffrage is an antsdzology of remarkable biologies, elizabeth stanton and lucretia mott led the first time that american formally demanded the vote. the convention produced the landmark declaration of sentiments. using the declaration of independence as a template, it states, we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created equal. the early women's rights movement was closely linked to the abolition of slavery. lieu lucretia mott said, i have no idea of submitting tamely to injustice inflicted either on me or on the slave. i will oppose it with all the moral powers with which i am endowed. among the most vigorous advocates of women's suffrage were those who knew too well the lash of oppression, the escaped slaves frederick douglass, sojourner truth and harriet tubman. another very important incident in the march of history occurred in 1872. susan b. anthony and 14 other women in rochester, new york, illegally voted in that year's presidential election. they were promptly arrested. susan b. anthony was put on trial, convicted, and ordered to pay a fine of $100 or face imprisonment. imagine, for voting. she bravely refused saying that she would never submit to this high-handed outrage upon my citizen's rights. the authority, madam president, wisely chose not to pursue collecting the fine. suffrage leaders realized that nothing short of a constitutional amendment would do. one modeled after the 15th amendment which granted the vote to all men regardless of race. with new leaders, such as carrie chapman catt, an instrument was used to change the hearts and minds of political leaders and the public. in addition to marchs, rallies and pe petions, they elicited the pulpit in their just cause. it took more than four decades for this strategy to succeed and strong women played key roles, kath reason reed ballentine, the daughter of the legendary speaker of the u.s. house of representatives, thomas bracket reid, led the main suffrage association, florence brooks whitehouse became a nationally known suffrage organizer and offered these words to opponents of this cause. she said, this you must know, the world is mine as yours. i'm proud to report that when the 19th amendment came to the senate floor on that historic day exactly 100 years ago, both of maine's senators, republicans bert fernal and frederick hale were among the 56 voting in favor. following senate passage, all that remained was for 36 of the then-48 states to vote for ratification. maine became the 19th state to ratify the 19th amendment. but, madam president, it wasn't easy. an earlier popular referendum on women's suffrage in maine got clobbered in the polls by a margin of nearly 2-1. of course women were not allowed to vote on their own future which obviously skewed the results. recognizing the inherent unfairness of the situation, maine's republican governor george milliken called an emergency session of the state legislature and ushered the measure through by a vote of 72-68. by the summer of 1920, only one more state was needed to reach the magic number of 36. the nation were on the side of tennessee where the amendment was before the legislature. the outlook was discouraging. after two roll call votes, suffrage opponents who wore red roses on their lapels were in a dead heat with the yellow rose supporters. if the measure failed to pass in tennessee, the 19th amendment would not be ratified. at the last possible moment the youngest tennessee lawmaker, harry burn, despite the red rose, which indicated you were in opposition that he wore, cast his vote in favor of ratification. after abating an angry mob after climbing out of a third floor window in the capitol building and hiding in the attic, representative bern claimed he changed his mind after he received a letter from his mother telling him, don't forget to be a good boy and to do the right thing. i'm sure the presiding officer is very familiar with this story. madam president, one of my inspirations in public service, maine senator margaret smith, addressed the question of what is a woman's proper place. her famous short answer was everywhere. the rest of her answer describes the importance of the struggle and the success that we celebrate today. she said, if there is any proper place for women today, it is that of alert and responsible citizens in the fullest sense of the word. it is a great pleasure to join my colleagues, and particularly the senior democratic senator -- woman senator dianne feinstein of california in saluting those great, courageous, and persistent women who over many long decades and through much difficulty guided our nation to that proper place by giving women the long overdue right to be full citizens in this country the right to vote. madam president, it is now my great pleasure to yield to my friend and distinguished colleague senator feinstein. mrs. feinstein: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. feinstein: i want to thank my colleague from the great state of maine. thank you so much, susan. thank you for your work here, your care, for your concern and your vigilance on all issues that affect women. thank you so much. madam president, i'm very proud to join susan collins and all of my colleagues on the floor today to celebrate the 100th anniversary of congress passing the 19th amendment to the united states constitution. before the 19th amendment, women were actually denied the same basic civil rights as men. we were not allowed to attend a college. we could not become doctors, lawyers, or politicians. married women had no right to property, and even though women were required to follow the law, they had no say in electing their lawmakers. simply put, women were second-class citizens. and so it's against this backdrop that the women suffrage movement took place, took shape decades ago to the fight to achieve equality for us and the fight began at the polls. in 1916, president woodrow wilson faced a tough reelection campaign. at the time 12 states allowed women to vote. the newly formed women's party campaigned forcefully in those states against wilson because of his strong opposition to women suffrage. as a result, women voted against wilson by notable margins causing the first known gender gap in a presidential election. although woodrow wilson ultimately won a second term, the women's party made clear that they were a force to be reckoned with. i could not be more proud of the suffragests who caught for decades to secure our right to vote and laid the groundwork for a woman's right to hold office. it is because of fearless, hardworking women like alice paul, lucy burns, dorothy day that i stand here today on the floor of the senate representing the largest state in the union, california. in the first elections held after the 19th amendment was ratified, women won public office in 23 states. today women are represented in all levels of government, federal, state, and local. in 1992, the first year i was elected to the senate, an historic number of women won elected office. 24 new women were elected to the united states house of representatives that year. and four women, myself, senators murray, boxer, and moseley-braun were elected to the senate. and last year nearly a century after congress passed the 19th amendment, women set another record with 102 women serving in the congress and three more holding seats on the united states supreme court. so women are still shattering the glass ceilings. in 2014 janet yellen became the first woman to lead the federal reserve. in 2016 hillary clinton became the first woman to be nominated by a major political party for president of the united states. and just this year after being elected the first female speaker of the house in 2007, nancy pelosi became the first woman to be reelected speaker of the house. last congress i became the first woman to serve as the ranking member of the senate judiciary committee. and this is especially significant for me because i was inspired by anita hill's testimony before the all-male senate judiciary committee to run for this office. even though there are more women in leadership positions across industries, there's still work to be done. according to the american association of university women, in 2017, women earned between 77 cents and 53 cents for every dollar earned by men. susan collins, we still have a long way to go, it seems to me. in addition, women continued to face discrimination and harassment at school and in the office as well as high rates of sexual violence. before i close, though, i'd like to address an issue that has unfortunately been in the news quite a bit lately. and that's the latest attacks on women's health and reproductive rights. we should not forget what justice ginsburg told the senate judiciary committee during her confirmation hearings in 1992. i was there and here's what she said and i quote, the decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a woman's life, to her well-being and dignity. it's a decision she must make for herself. when government controls that decision for her, she is being treated as less than a full adult human responsible for her own choices. in the past month, six states have passed blatantly unconstitutional laws that effectively ban abortion, even in cases of rape and incest. these new restrictions are especially concerning in light of the new conservative majority on the supreme court which has long signaled its opposition to women's reproductive rights. just last month in a case challenging abortion restrictions in indiana, justice thomas authored an opinion comparing contraceptives to eugenics and demonstrate a clear hostility to griswold and roe. between the indiana case, the various unconstitutional state laws, and other reproductive rights cases on the court's docket, many legal observers believe roe today remains in jeopardy. as a united states senator, i will continue fighting for equal rights for women, and i will honor the legacy of women who blaze the trail. i'm honored to recognize those women and the progress we've made as we commemorate the 100th anniversary of congress passing the 19th amendment to the united states constitution. thank you, madam president. i yield the floor. a senator: madam president? ms. collins: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: madam president, i want to thank the senator from california for her remarks and yield time now to the senator from illinois, senator duckwor duckworth. ms. duckworth: thank you. madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. ms. duckworth: madam president, i come to the floor today to honor some of the founders of our nation who all too often don't get their due. founders whose gender or skin tone may not be represented on mount rush more but whose brilliance, resilience helped ensure that the democracy we have today is strong and true. because this democracy wasn't just built by george washington or thomas jefferson. it wasn't perfected in the 18th century when the ink dried on the four original pages of the constitution. it was shaped by women like abigail adams who i named my first daughter after. it was strengthened by suffragists like sow -- sojourner truth who worked tirelessly. who used emancipation to call for freedom and a voice for all, women, black, white, you name it. it was formed by illinoisans like ida b. wells who demanded that women of color have a place at the forefront of the suffrage movement. it was forged by women like mary livermore who channeled her frustration over women's inequality into action. spearheading chicago's first ever suffrage convention 150 years ago and marking illinois as a leader in the fight for women's rights. our democracy was sharpened by the group of illinoisans who traveled to washington, d.c. in 1913 joining thousands of other women in their march down pennsylvania avenue. protesters who were vilified, berated, jostled and tripped and even jailed but who withstood it all to call for constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote. and this union was made more per expect when the 19th amendment finally passed congress 100 years ago today. these women raised their voices on the picket lines so we could make ours heard at the polls. they risked safety and security, withstood hypocrisy and overcame misogyny, refusing to stay silent so that their daughters and their daughters' daughters would inherit the democracy she deserved. for that we are forever in their debt, but of course every american's right to vote wasn't truly secure thad day in 1919 -- secured that day in 1919 nor was it later that week when illinois became one of the first states to ratify the amendment. or in 1965 when lyndon b. johnson picked up a pen and signed the voting rights act into law. and it's -- it still is not secure today. not when voters' suppression tactics stood blocks so many blacks and some in power are still fighting to install modern day poll taxes. so we can't get complacent. what began at seneca falls continues with us today as it now falls to our generation to keep alive the work of yesterday's suffragists. to keep pushing for bills like the voting rights advancement act to ensure that bigoted state laws don't disenfranchise any american. it falls on us to keep fighting for that more perfect union, to keep making our voices heard, whether that's here on the senate floor or anywhere else so that finally some day soon every american can make theirs heard at the ballot box. thank you. i yield back. ms. collins: madam president, i would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: ms. collins: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: i ask unanimous consent that proceedings under the call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. collins: madam president, i would recognize the senator from alaska, senator murkowski. ms. murkowski: thank you, madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. ms. murkowski: thank you, senator collins. madam president, i would ask unanimous consent that anthony sponos and edith spear, interns from my office be granted privileges to the floor for the remainder of the year. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. murkowski: thank you, madam president. i rise today to join my colleagues as we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the date congress sent to the states this question, the ratification of a constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote. our ancestors have long sought the promise of a better life for themselves and their children. many of our forebears came to this country seeking religious liberty, economic security, or personal freedom. and since 1788 they were drawn to the promise of these words, that we the people of the united states in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity do ordain and establish this constitution for the united states of america. today most in this body and across the country would agree that women's full participation in the life of her community and nation are crucial if the promise laid out in our constitution's preamble is ever to be fully realized. but in 1788 and for many years thereafter, women could not own property, could not open a bank account on their own, or even control the money that they earned through their own work. they could not control their destiny or indeed their own bodies. justice, tranquility, the general welfare and the blessings of liberty were for women what men said they were. that all began to change. june 4, 1919, the date when finally after so many years of struggle and failure the required number of senators voted aye for house joint resolution 1, proposing an amendment to the constitution extending the right of suffrage to women. it was very simple. very simple yet intensely powerful, a resolution with just one article that read the right of citizens of the united states to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or by any state on account of sex. congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. madam president, that remarkable moment we know did not come easily. for decades women across america sought the promise of our nation for themselves and their daughters. they were subjected to insults and ridicule, sometimes even imprisonment and violence. in 1906, an editorial in the "new york times" defined the word suffragette as a demanding screecher and a woman who ought to have more sense. walking in parades in support of the right to vote, women had insults and worse heralded at them. suffragettes were physically attacked. beginning in june 1917, it got much worse. here in washington, d.c. police began arresting women who were picketing the white house in support of suffrage for obstructing sidewalk traffic. throughout the summer and into the fall, women who refused to pay the fine were sent to the women's work house in lorton, virginia, or the district jail where conditions were deplorable. rats ran free in the prison, the food infested with maggots. alice paul, a leader of the national women's party and about 71 other women began a hunger strike while in jail. and for months suffered force feeding of raw eggs and milk through nasal gastric tubes. in november 33 of the imprisoned suffragettes were beaten by guards by order of the prison superintendent. one woman's hands were handcuffed high above her head on the prison door for an entire night. some were left unconscience. lucy storn, ida b. wells, alice paul, and others are widely known as suffragist leaders. there were millions of others across the country doing what they could in their own families, in their own communities and states to advance women's rights. they marched, they protested, sewed flags and banners and spoke up in homes and their home towns. in the following 100 years since the senate sent the women's right to vote to the states for ratification, the right to vote gave women the power to change their lives and to impact our nation in so many positive and profound ways. and as a result, our nation has made incredible strides. today in 2019 it may be difficult for some to imagine an america without women leaders in every conceivable endeavor. amazing women have contributed to our nation in countless ways both large and small. so we've moved from the horse and bug gi era to putting a man on the moon -- buggy era to putting a man on the moon but the man wouldn't have gotten there and back without women math ma televisions and engineers. by 1980 more women than men earned bachelor's degrees. since 1919 women are able to enter any profession for which they're qualified, keep their own wages, start and run corporations, lead scientific and medical advances, and fly into space. women have th -- have the right to be heard in the halls of congress and their children's school. we're allowed to determine the guilt or innocence of the accused. we can inherit property, run the iditarod, become mayors, and we can not only run for office, but vote for selves. women can and do anything that we put our -- if we put or minds to it. if it had not been for the right to vote, the basic legal right to be recognized, would we be where we are today? would we have women like sandra day o'connor, sally ried? -- sally ride? would we have the voices of countless americans because we know their opinions, backed by votes, on issues like child care, climate change, and national security. would the young women of today have the faith that they really can do anything that they set their minds to? maybe not. so i rise today to call on all americans to commemorate this day to remember all those who made it possible and to honor them by recognizing the right to vote, to be heard and to be valued is a precious right. it has not always been implemented fairly and it muster be guarded -- must be guarded and defended. mr. president, as we look to honor the past, we must also acknowledge, like our ancestors, we have more progress to do. gaining the right to vote was the first step, but despite the -- despite the equal pay act and the pregnancy discrimination act, our constitution gives us the right to vote but does not protect us from discrimination. and so in the spirit of women who fought for the rights of women who would come after them, i would hope, mr. president, that the senate will pass senate joint resolution 6 to remove the deadline for ratification of the equal rights amendment. that will be something that we'll bring up at another point in time. today i'm able to stand with my -- my friends and my colleagues here in the senate as we recognize and honor those who paved the way and have allowed for this right to vote, that right and value to be heard. with that, mr. president.i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: i thank the senator from alaska for her eloquent comments and would now yield to senator murray. mrs. murray: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, 150 years ago in washington state a surgeet named mary brown went to vote and like so many others at the time her voted was rejected. why? because she was a woman. she said the idea of a woman voting was regarded as an absurdity. 50 years later thanks to the tireless efforts like mary brown, that changed when this chamber passed the 19th amendment to guarantee women's right to vote. today as we celebrate the 100 milestone in the rights for equality, it is inspiring to see how far women had come. when we passed the 19th amendment there was one woman in congress. before i ran for the senate in 1992, there were two women senators. i was very proud to join the senate in 1992 and 1993 and be joined with senator barbara mikulski, who is here today, and we became six women in the senate. today there are 25 women serving in the senate and 102 in the house of representatives. today women are governors around fortune 500c.e.o.'s and nobel-prize winning researchers and candidates for president. it's clear we have come a long way, but we still have more work to do. women may have more representation, but we still make up less than a quarter of congress. women of color are still particularly under represented and we still have some ceilings left to crack. women are still paid less than men for the same work and the pay gap subpoena even wider for women -- gap is even wider for women of color. most bear the burden of being a working parent. nearly 50 years after roe v. wade was decided, women are still fighting to defend their trite to make their own decisions about their own bodies. and these injustices even extend to voting rights. even after the 19th amendment was ratified, many women of color were still denied the right to vote by discripple any barriers designed to keep them from the ballot box, and today, still, far too many states have put into effect voter suppression efforts that disproportionately hurt communities of color like harsh voting i.d. laws and exact match requirements that make it easy to purge someone from the voter rolls due to a typo. after all the years women spent fighting for their right to vote, it's unacceptable these kinds of efforts would strip that right away from anyone, which is why we need to pass legislation to restore the voting rights act to its full power to protect the rights of voters across our country. while there's still a lot of work ahead to make good on the promise of the 19th amendment and make sure everyone in our country who is entitled to vote is actually able to vote and every woman is able to exercise all of her rights under our constitution, i'm confident we can get there, and i want to say why. after 2016, i watched as women across the country stood up, spoke out, and fought back. i saw as much energy as i have seen in my lifetime as women joined together on countless different efforts to roll back their rights. i saw millions of women march to women to exercise their rights last november. what happened? they broke records an barriers across the country. and afterwards some states broke down the barriers that were put up to block people from voting. i believe that momentum is going to continue to build, especially as women continue to reach out to other women to build a bigger, more inclusive coalition. and so today, as we celebrate the senate vote to pass the 19th amendment, i want to not only remember how hard women fought to get that right to vote but to promise we're going to keep fighting just as hard to protect it for everyone in this country. and then we're going to keep using it to fight hard for the change that we want to see in our communities. thank you, mr. president. and i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: i thank the senator for her good remarks today and i'm very pleased to yield time to the senator from tennessee. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mrs. blackburn: thank you. i thank the senator from maine for her leadership as we commemorate the senate's action in passing the 19th amendment and sending that to the states for ratification. it is amazing think that it was 100 years ago today -- today and women in this country still did not have the right to vote. and it is the reason that even though today, mr. president, when we think about nashville, tennessee, we're thinking about country music, we're thinking about bash bacheloret -- we're thinking about bachelorete parties. but in the summer of 1920, nashville, tennessee was the focus on both sides of the debate on women's suffrage because that summer was that final push to get the 19th amendment ratified so that women would forever have the right to vote. and suffragettes from all across the country looked to tennessee in that last-ditch effort to pass an amendment before the 1920 presidential elections. well, as it all came together and as everybody was coming into nashville, and you had the red roses on one side, you had the yellow roses on the other side, and the battle was heating up and the tennessee house of representatives had been called back into a special session so that they would debate this issue, would women receive the right to vote? would tennessee agree to vote for ratification of the 19th amendment? and the pro and anti-supporters really flooded that city. those that opposed enfranchisement and wearing those red roses went to extreme lengths to prevent a vote. at one point legislators actually fled the state to prevent a quorum. they left the state so they would not have to say where they stood on the issue of women having the right to vote. but let me tell you, against those tennessee women, against suffragettes from across the country all wearing their yellow roses, those legislators never stood a chance. you've all heard of susan b. anthony and elizabeth cady stanton, but let me introduce you to a few more of those fierce female fighters from the summer of 1920. you have ann dallas dudley from nashville who was really quite an organizer. abby crawford milton, sue settleon white -- shelton white from west tennessee and ida b. wells who was from memphis. they were all tennesseans who fought tirelessly on behalf of suffrage and brought the state's house of representatives to that fateful vote on august 18, 1920. now the senator from maine talked a moment earlier about a young legislator, the youngest member of the house of representatives in the state of tennessee. his name, harry t. burn. harry was from niota, tennessee, a freshman house of representatives member. and he switched his vote from nay to yea and broke a tie and made history. and as the senator of maine said, he did it because of a letter written to him by his mother who reminded him he should be a good boy and help ms. catt put the rat in ratification and he did and so it was official. tennessee had become the 36th and final state needed for ratification of the 19th amendment. that journey from seneca falls, new york, to nashville, tennessee was hard fought and sometimes we don't think about how long it took. it was a 72-year journey. 72 years from the seneca falls convention to that final vote in nashville, tennessee. and think about this. the women who started this push for women's suffrage were not alive to see it become the law of the land and become a constitutionally guaranteed right. and women who voted in that 1920 presidential election, many, most were not even alive when the fight began. but the women that started that fight did it because they knew that women receiving the right to vote was a worthy fight. today we owe them so much gratitude and so much gratitude for the work that they did 100 years ago today in pushing this through the u.s. senate. and my colleague, senator gillibrand of new york, has joined me in working to pass the women's suffrage centennial commemorative coin act. we're doing that here in the senate and in the house, two of our colleagues, representative stafonic, again from new york, and brenda laurence, have introduced a companion bill. it will mint silver coins honoring the work of women suffrage activists. the coins will be issued in 2020, which also marks the centennial anniversary of the passage, the ratification of the 19th amendment. proceeds from sales of the coin will support the important work of the smithsonian institution's american women's history initiative. it is my hope that because of this, more young women will look to history for guidance and feel very proud about what they learn about the women suffragists, that the little girl who is following her mom into the voting booth will begin to understand and appreciate why so many women aring -- women are standing in line at the poll to cast their vote and that women who want to change things in their community or their state or their country will stop waiting for someone else to take the lead and will realize that they are empowered to do this because of actions that were taken over 100 years ago. in 1916, famed suffragists carrie chapman catt, who i mentioned earlier, stood before the national american women suffrage association, and she declared, and i quote, the time has come to shout aloud in every city, village and hamlet and in tone so clear and jubilant that they will reverberate from every mountain peak and echo from shore to shore, the women's hour has struck. indeed the women's hour did strike and shout these ladies did. mr. president, i yield the floor. ms. collins: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: mr. president, i want to thank the senator from tennessee for giving us such a great history lesson and appreciate her remarks. mr. president, next on our list of speakers is senator ernst, followed by senator shaheen. is senator ernst ready to go? i would yield time to senator ernst. ms. ernst: thank you. mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. ms. ernst: thank you so much, mr. president, and thank you very much, senator collins, and also to senator feinstein for arranging this afternoon's visit on the floor of the united states senate. it's a privilege to have the opportunity to come to the floor today to recognize the courageous and determined women behind the women's suffrage movement. these trailblazing women and countless more like them paved the way for women in my home state of iowa and across the nation to have the right to vote. they forged a path for women like me and all of my absolutely remarkable female colleagues joining me here on the senate floor today. on this 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment, it is easy to think of these courageous women as institutions and visions of strength and perseverance, and that is absolutely what those women are. but they were also once young girls and young women seeking to understand the answer to simple questions like why can't my mother vote in an election? why can't i pursue my dreams? all too often the response back then to these questions was simply to tell women that politics and government were too complicated or important for our gender to have a role in it. quote, let's leave it to the men to figure out these tough matters. that's what they would say. i think the 127 women in congress this year would have something very different to say about that. to be honest, i don't know if the suffragettes completely understood the tremendous impact their efforts would have now a century later. they secured more than just the right to vote. the passage of the nineteenth amendment has led to immeasurable progress in the fight for women's equality on all fronts. i see their spirit in the girls and women young and old i meet each and every day in my job as a united states senator. i was recently at a women's networking event where general -- general jennifer walter, the first female iowa air guard general in the iowa national guard, talked about her career options when she graduated high school over four decades ago. they were very limited, to say the least. she could be a typist or work in a clerking job in the air force, or she could be a nurse. those were the options that were open to her. but general walter is not one to be boxed in. she decided to forge her own path forward. that led her to the international guard first in kansas and then in my home state of iowa. there were still plenty of obstacles, but she was unwavering. walter was going to prove that she belonged and could reach her fall potential. even in my own life, i have benefited from the hard work and the commitment of these women trailblazers. that's especially clear when i look back on my 23 years of service in the army reserve and the iowa army national guard. when i joined the service after college, there were no opportunities for women in combat. by 2003, i was a company commander leading supply convoys in combat zones in iraq. like me, hundreds of women were serving the cause of freedom, and some even paying the ultimate price for our nation. yet, women could not even formally serve in combat fields or occupations until 2013. now i look at my daughter, libby, as she prepares to enter her second year at west point, and she also considers entering combat arms. she has so many opportunities ahead of her because of the strong women that came before her. mr. president, it's truly an honor to be in the company of so many remarkable women on the senate floor today to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote. and it's all the more fitting that we do so during a time when there are more women serving in the united states senate than any other time in history. we come from every imaginable background and from every corner of our great and beautiful country. i will continue to challenge every one of our young women today who's contemplating serving in our country in government, in armed services, to say yes and to jump into that arena. we are a better nation because of the contributions of women in all walks of life and in all fields of service, and in both chambers of congress. thank you, mr. president. again, my great thanks to senator susan collins and senator collins and senator diane feinstein of california for the opportunity to speak today. and thank you, mr. president. i will now yield the floor. ms. collins: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: mr. president, before i yield to my friend and neighbor from new hampshire, i want to recognize in the back of the chamber a truly extraordinary woman and outstanding former u.s. senator who served in this chamber from 1987 to 2017, some 30 years. senator barbara mikulski of maryland. she has served on the commission that has worked very hard to make sure we commemorate this centennial of women's suffrage, and she has been a mentor and friend to all of us who had the pleasure of serving with her. so i just want to welcome senator mikulski back to the united states senate, which was her home for so many years, and where she still has so many friends and admirers, of which i count myself one. the presiding officer: and the chair counts himself one as well. ms. collins: the chair is a very wise man. now i would like to yield time to senator jeanne shaheen. mrs. shaheen: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: thank you very much, mr. president. and thank you to my neighbor and friend, senator collins and senator feinstein, to the two of you for organizing this afternoon's conversation on the floor in recognition of the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment. i also want to begin by recognizing senator mikulski who was such a trailblazer for so many women. i remember being a young woman involved in politics in the late 1980's in new hampshire right after she got elected to the senate, and she came up and spoke to us. at the time i was not sure there was ever an opportunity for a woman in new hampshire to go anywhere, and listening to her made me realize that there are opportunities for women everywhere, and we need to take advantage of them. so thank you, senator mikulski. today we celebrate not only the passage of the 19th amendment but the countless women who fought for decades before 1919 so that women would one day realize the full rights protected under the constitution. and as so many of my colleagues have said, we remember women like elizabeth cady stanton and lucretia mott who organized the first women's rights commission in seneca falls. susan b. anthony, harriet tubman, ida b. wells and sojourner truth who worked so hard for women's rights while battleing slavery and racism. these women faced extraordinary obstacles as they protested, marched, lobbied and at times sacrificed their own freedoms so women could one day secure the right to vote. the leaders of the women's suffrage movement understood the fundamental truth that the rights protected under the constitution are merely privileges if they're not enjoyed by everyone in our society. as susan b. anthony put it in 1873, quote, quo it was we the people. not we, the white male citizens. not yet we, the male citizens. but we, the whole people, who form the union. and we formed it not to give the blessings of liberty, but to secure them not to the half of ourselves, but to the whole people. women as well as men. end quote. the suffrage movement was of course an effort to achieve political equality for women, but it was also an effort to secure a more perfect union by giving life to the ideals laid out in our founding documents. this pursuit for equality continues today and it is in the spirit of our trailblazers that women carry on the fight for full equality under the law. it is in that spirit that we are here this afternoon on the floor of the senate to talk about the importance of carrying on the tradition of our founding mothers. these figures are an important part of our history. and because of the generations of women they inspired, their legacy lives on today. we must remember their stories and honor their sacrifices. those sacrifices have helped shape the identity of our nation, and it's why we celebrate these women in the same regard as we have our founding fathers. and it's why the issue for me of keeping a promise to redesign the $20 billion with the likeness of harriet tubman is so important. the united states was not shaped exclusively by men and our living history, which our currency is part of should reflect that because the symbols that we have for our country matter. now, leaders of the women's suffrage movement rose from communities across this country, but today i would like to recognize one of the pioneers of that movement from my own state of new hampshire. armenia s. white. armenia spent most of her life in concord, new hampshire, which is our capital. she was active in the community, including supporting the abolitionists and temperance movements. but the cause for which she was most passionate was securing the vote for women. armenia was the first signer of the call for an equal suffrage convention in new hampshire, which was held in concord in 1868. she was also the first president of the new hampshire women's sufficient fisherman -- suffrage association. a position she held for nearly 50 years. when the time came for new hampshire to send a delegate to the association organized in cleveland, armenia was selected and served in that position for decades. armenia's efforts in new hampshire were largely responsible for the decisions by the state legislature in 1871 and 1878 to make women eligible to serve on school committees. i think it's interesting that we were eligible to serve on school committees before we were eligible to serve in the legislature. but, nevertheless, not only did she help make women eligible to serve on school committees, but she cured -- secured women a vote in local school district elections. sadly, armenia never lived to see women secure the right to vote with the passage of the 19th amendment. but her efforts to improve the quality in new hampshire and throughout the nation left an enduring impact on the movement. it's an impact that, as the first woman elected to be governor of new hampshire and then elected to be senator there, i had benefited from, and i feel a deep sense of gratitude to armenia and so many women who came before me for forging a path so that women could one day serve in public office, so that one day we could vote. alice paul, the leader of the women's suffrage movement, once described women's suffrage saying, and i quote, i always feel the movement as a sort of mosaic. each of us puts in one little stone, and then you get a great mosaic at the end, end quote. as we recognize and celebrate the passage of the 19th amendment, we must remember that there's still so much work to do and that even the smallest stones contribute to this great mosaic. thank you, mr. president. thank you, again, to my colleague, senator collins and feinstein, for leading this effort. we still have a lot of work to do. ms. collins: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: i thank the senator from new hampshire. and it is now my pleasure to yield time to the senator from nebraska. senator phisher. -- senator fischer. mrs. fischer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from nebraska. mrs. fischer: i, too, would like to thank the senior senator from maine and the senior senator from california for organizing the colloquy that we're having on the floor today in recognition of a very historic moment. to have senator collins be a leader here in the united states senate has been just a wonderful experience for me to share with her the last seven years that i've been here. she is truly a leader, and she is a mentor to both men and women here in the united states senate. i always tell people, mr. president, if you want to see a true legislator, you need to watch susan collins. mr. president, i do rise today with great honor and pride to join my colleagues in recognizing the 100th anniversary of the senate passage of the 19th amendment, which did pave the way for women's constitutional right to vote in this country. today we celebrate this historic milestone, and we honor the suffragists, women of courage who were pioneers and they were leaders. these women who fought for their god-given right to vote in the greatest democracy the world has ever seen must be remembered. nearly 100 years ago with picket signs in hand, alice paul led hundreds of brave suffragists to the white house to advocate for the essential role of women's right to vote in this republic. today almost a century later women make up half the electorate. according to the pew research center, more women voted than men in the 2018 elections. as i stand here today in this chamber alongside the women of the senate, i am so grateful for the strength of the women who came before us. on this historic day, i would like to reflect on some of nebraska's strong and very influential women who have made a difference. suzette tibbles served as a translator for chief standing bear when he fought for native americans to keep their land. h-pulitzer prize-winning author willa kather who was renowned for her work chronicling life on the great plains and biographer, historian, and teacher mari sanchez who invested in the next generation of creative writerings. i also think of women of politics from my home state of nebraska who inspired me to serve my community, my state and my country. i think of kay oregon, nebraska's first female governor and the first female republican governor in the united states. i think of virginia smith, my congressional representative and the first woman from nebraska to hold a seat in the united states house of representatives. let us not forget the stories of the suffragists and all of the women throughout our nation's history whose courage and whose brilliance changed the world. it's because of them that we -- them that we stand today in the hallowed chamber of the united states senate with a record number of women serving in congress and record numbers of women exercising their constitutional right to vote. we will never forget the path that brought us here today and the pioneers who fought for the right of millions of women to participate in the core function of our republic. i encourage my senate colleagues to swiftly pass the resolution before us today. and i hope in doing so it serves as encouragement and inspiration for future generations of women who will continue to write america's story. thank you again to senator collins, to senator feinstein, and to all of my colleagues for sharing their stories, their past, their future, and their vision for this country. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. ms. collins: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: mr. president, i want to thank the senator from nebraska for her very kind comments and her eloquent remarks. and i'm now pleased to yield time to the senator from wisconsin, senator baldwin. ms. baldwin: thank you. the presiding officer: the senator from wisconsin. ms. baldwin: thank you, mr. president. thank you, senator collins. i rise today proudly wearing a yellow rose in solidarity with the 24 other women who serve in the united states senate to recognize what is a very historic milestone in our nation's history. almost 100 years ago, after decades and decades of struggle by brave women and men, our nation finally extended to women the most fundamental right of our democracy, the right to vote. the struggle for women's suffrage was fought in every corner of our country and communities all over the nation are planning to recognize their contributions over the next year. so today marks precisely 100 years to the day that the senate passed the 19th amendment. i'm proud to tell you that a week later, on june 10, 1919, wisconsin became the first state in our union to ratify the 19th amendment. now, i'm always proud to say that my home state was the very first to ratify women's right to vote, narrowly beating our neighbor to the south, the state of illinois, because of a paperwork error. you know, we're still first. and i'm especially happy that i will forever have bragging rights over my friend from illinois, the cochair of the senate tammy caucus, senator duckworth, because illinois wasn't quite quick enough and wisconsin did it first. i'm also proud today to wear a purple ribbon. this ribbon is in recognition of the women of color who fought and marched alongside their white colleagues in the suffrage movement but whose contributions went largely unsung and many of whom were still denied the right to vote after the 19th amendment was ratified. as we observe and celebrate this historic moment, we must be careful not to mistake progress for history. the -- we must be careful not to mistake progress for victory. with just 131 women currently serving in congress, we are well short of equal representation in government. government works best when legislatures reflect the people they -- legislators reflect the people they work for, when they look like america. that's why it's important to increase the number of women mo serve in public office -- who serve in public office. women are half the population. we should be half of our nation's government, too. when i first entered public service, i had the opportunity to sit on the madison city council, and i remember while a meeting, when i had one of those light bulb moments of the difference women make when they serve. the city council that day was debating whether to extend an -- add an additional bus route that went directly to madison area technical college's new campus. i remember listening to my male colleagues and their participation in the debate, and there was a lot of focus on funding and logistics and finger-pointing at which body in government should bear this responsibility. i didn't at first seem to think that the city council should take action to add another bus route. but then i began hearing the voices of my female colleagues. they began speaking up and describing their experience traveling to campus. they spoke about evening classes and having to walk a long distance down a poorly lit road to get to the nearest bus stop. they spoke about the dangers of walking home alone at night. most women can identify with the fear of walking or commuting home late at night. but it sounded like the men in the debate hadn't thought about it in the same way before that moment. the whole debate changed as soon as women's voices were heard, and the city council ultimately voted to fund a new route that went right to the campus door. women bring their life experiences to the job. it helps inform our debates, our votes, and the policies that we deliver. my experience with the women of the united states senate, past and present, is that they ran for office and came to washington to solve problems. i feel like we are guided by the idea that our job is to work together and to get things done. that's what we do, both democrats and republicans, as we work together to deliver solutions. i worked with my colleague, senator susan collins, to pass legislation to better support the more than 40 million family caregivers in this country who contribute millions of dollars each year in uncompensated care for their loved ones. i worked with my colleague, senator joni ernsts to pass legislation to join our agriculture workers with the mental health resources they need to deal with extreme economic stress that our farmers have faced in recent years. i worked with my colleague, senator lisa murkowski, to pass legislation that will bring more obstetricians to rural areas and expand access to maternity care for women so that they no longer have to drive hours to get the health care they need or to deliver their baby. i appreciate these partnerships and the many others that i've been able to experience, and i look forward to continuing to work together on a bipartisan basis to deliver results for the american people. with more women in public office, you will see more solutions to the challenges and problems we face. women get stuff done. in 2017, i was proud to lead the bipartisan legislation to establish the women's suffrage centennial commission and ensure we give this important anniversary the recognition and celebration that it deserves. i'm thrilled to say that the commission is now hard at work developing, supporting, and lifting up commemorative efforts across this country. it's working with private organizations and government at every level to encourage and help facilitate their events. i want to give a particularly heartfelt thank you to my friend and former senator, barbara mikulski, who helped get the commission started and is now actually serving as a commissioner. i look forward to seeing the great work of the women's suffrage centennial commission as we get closer to the formal final anniversary celebration of when the 19th amendment finally became part of our nation's charter. today i am grateful for the brave women who came before us and fought for the right of all american women to have a say in their own government. thanks to their struggle, their persistence and their determination to bring women the right to vote, i can stand here today as one of 25 women serving in the united states senate and representing the great state of wisconsin. we have more work to do, but in 2018 more women ran for office and won than ever before in our nation's history. and as a result, we have a new congress that is starting to look just a little bit more like the people that it aims to represent. let's keep building on that progress and let's keep working together on solutions to the challenges that we face today. ms. collins: mr. president, i'm now pleased to recognize the senator from maryland, senator cardin. mr. cardin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: first, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that floor privileges be granted to marles pastorknack, a member of my staff during today's session of the senate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: i want to thank my colleague, senator feinstein, for working together so that we all have a chance to come together and reflect on the progress that we made in a commitment to make sure we continue to move forward. it was june 4, 1919, 100 years ago today that the senate passed the women's suffrage constitutional amendment. the campaign started with the birth of our nation. on march 31, 1776, abigail adams wrote a letter to her husband who was serving in the continental congress. and she said, and i quote, i desire you would remember the ladies, to be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. do not put such unlimited power in the hands of the husbands, and particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion and we will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation. well, i'm sorry that our founding fathers did not listen to abigail adams. over 144 years later the 19th amendment was adopted to our constitution providing for women's suffrage and passed first in the house of representatives on may 21, 1919, and then in the senate on june 4, 1919. the right to vote was the first step. the last 100 years we've seen tremendous progress legally, financially and socially. more women have entered the workforce than ever before. women are filling key leadership posts in increased numbers. but we still have an unfinished agenda for equality for women. i think most people in this country would be surprised to learn that there's nothing in the constitution of the united states that guarantees equal rights for women. as the late justice scalia said, there's nothing in the constitution that requires discrimination against women, but nothing that requires -- that protects women against discrimination. senator murkowski and i introduced resolution 6 to extend the date for the ratification of the equal rights amendment. in 1972 we passed the equal rights amendment here for ratification for the states, extended it one time, and ten years later 35 states had ratified the equal rights amendment, three short of the required 38. nevada and illinois have since ratified the amendment, so it's one state short. however, we need to pass the resolution to extend the time limit. as justice ruth bader ginsburg has said, and this is interesting, mr. president, every constitution written since the end of world war ii includes a provision that men and women are citizens of equal stature. ours does not. it's well past time that we pass the equal rights amendment. the 27th amendment to the constitution took over 200 years to ratify, dealing with congressional pay increases. we can pass and should pass in this congress a fitting tribute to the celebration of women's suffrage, the equal rielts -- rights amendment for women. we need to do more for equal pay for equal work. i want to acknowledge the extraordinary leadership we had in maryland and this nation in senator barbara mikulski. she was a true champion in so many ways as a social worker, as a city council person, as a member of the house of representatives, and as a united states senator, in advancing rights for women, particularly in the workplace. i remember with pride seeing her standing next to president obama signing his very first bill, the lily bullet -- the lilly ledbetter act that enforced the rights for women in the workplace. we still have work to do. we still have not passed equal pay for equal work in this country and this congress should deal with that. we have a wealth gap. no question that women do not have the same wealth as men. to me one area where we can pass this, the committee that i serving as ranking member, the small business and entrepreneurship committee, working with senator rubio to look at whether the tools of the small business administration are providing help to women to develop their own businesses. because wealth is usually accumulated through business growth. we need to do more to help women. i'm proud of the state of maryland, that 39% of our small businesses are owned by women. but women do not have equal access to the tools of access to capital. we can do better with the 7-a program and with the community advantage pilot program, particularly making that permanent. so there's still steps we can take to help advance equal rights and equal opportunity for women. women's health care, the constitutional right of women to make their own choice about their own health and well-being is being again challenged by some of our states and here in capitol hill. whether it's abortion, preventive screening or contraception, access to reproductive health care provides women with economic opportunity. it was wrong at the start of our nation and wrong today. as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage, let us do several things. first i urge our colleagues to support the resolution that's pending, resolution 212 in regards to celebrating women's suffrage and we work for full equality for women in our constitution, in the workplace, entrepreneurship and health care. with that, mr. president, i would yield the floor. ms. collins: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: mr. president, i'm pleased to yield time to the senator from minnesota, senator klobuchar. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i thank my colleague, the senator from west virginia, senator capito, which in the spirit of today will allow me to take her place and she will go next. i rise to join my colleagues to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the 19th amendment. i'd like to thank senator collins and senator feinstein for taking the lead in bringing us together today. just think, 100 years ago today the senate voted to guarantee and protect the women's constitutional right to vote, marking an important milestone in our democracy. my home state of minnesota was the 15th state to ratify the 19th amendment and women like dr. marry jackman coburn, sarah burr ger sterns and sarah uverne fought to make it happen. when president wilson refused to support a constitutional amendment at first granting women equal voting rights, suffragists chained themselves to the fence of the white house and burned an effigy of the president. after weeks of similar protests, fires and intense pressure to support equal rights, he announced his support of a constitutional amendment. we also must remember in addition to people like elizabeth cady stanton, lucretia mott, susan b. anthony the african american women that were in the league. harriet tubman, ida b. wells and margaret murray washington. the women's suffragist women encountered strong opposition. it doesn't feel like that would happen now but it did back then and those who opposed equality came up with creative reasons to keep women from voting. the national association opposed to women's suffrage was a real organization, published a pamphlet full of propaganda. the pamphlet said that if women were granted the right to vote, some states would be under petticoat rule. the pamphlet also provided a list of household cleaning tips for women, such as you do not need a ballot to clean out your sink spout. and, quote, there is no method known by which mud stained reputation may be cleaned after bitter political campaigns. posters were scattered across cities that depicted men at home taking care of babies, cooking and cleaning because they had been abandoned by their voting wives. 100 years later, i think we can safely say that none of the dire warnings described in the propaganda came to pass and that the united states of america did not parish under the -- perish under the petticoat rule. what did happen was that in 1920 the first federal election in which women could vote, the total popular vote increased dramatically, from 18.5 million to 26.8 million by 1920. when i arrived in the senate, there were only 16 women, led by the dean of the women senators who is here with us today, senator barbara mikulski. we now have, as noted by my colleagues, 25 women senators. but that is an all-time high, because when you look at the history of the senate, there's been nearly 2,000 male senators and only 56 women. i was on the trevor noah show a few months ago and he said if a nightclub had that kind of ratio, they would shut it down. but in fact -- but in fact we are at an all-time high with 25 women senators, with more to come. someone once said that women should, quote, speak softly and carry a big statistic. well, i don't agree with the speak softly part, but the big statistic, there's some merit to that. i have found the women senators, maybe because it was harder for them to get where they are, to be accountable, to say what they're going to do and to get it done. and there was actually a study from harvard, the university of minnesota of the east, that showed that that was in fact true. so my colleagues mentioned the challenges ahead. we have to make sure more people can vote, that we don't suppress vote. we need to pass the equal rights amendment. we need to make sure that we have equal pay. there are many, many challenges ahead, but today we celebrate because we all stand on the shoulders of those before us. and in our case, we stand on the very broad shoulders of our friend, barbara mikulski. i -- when we took on a woman's issue on the floor, she said put on your suit, square your shoulders, put your lib stick on -- your lib stick on and get ready for a revolution. we all stand on their shoulders and we are happy to take up their torch. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. ms. collins: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: mr. president, i would now yield time to the senator from west virginia, senator could i capito. could i -- senator capito: than, mr. president. i would like to thank my colleagues. it's great to be here with our former colleague, senator mikulski, who taught me how to be tough on the appropriations committee. if i could only be that tough. if i could only be that tough. but i'm honored to join my colleagues today to commemorate and celebrate the centennial anniversary of the 19th amendment. we all know the history, at least we should, and we've talked a lot about it today. we've heard the names and documentaries and read about them in history books. susan b. anthony, sojourner truth and so many others. these suffragists, these leaders paved the way for women exercising the right to vote, changing the fabric in the process. it goes without saying this is no easy feat. in fact it was a pretty tough fight and it wasn't won overnight. it took a total of nine years for the amendment to reach the senate floor and in 1887, the vote for suffrage was actually defeated. hard for us to imagine. i think experiencing legislative defeat is something we all have experience with in this body, but that was not the end. it certainly took too much time, and things started to really heat up around 1916. that year, the people of montana made the monumental move of electing jeanette ranken to the house of representatives. interestingly enough, with a woman finally serving in congress, it didn't seem so crazy that a woman should be able to have a say when it comes to who serves. eventually the senate passed the resolution proposing the 19th amendment. the date was june 4, 1919, exactly 100 days -- or 100 years ago. i'm proud to say that both west virginia senators at the time voted in favor of the resolution. i would expect nothing more from tough mountaineer men. that language was adopted and ratified on august 18, 2020, marking the movement -- the moment when women were given the opportunity to have their voices heard at the ballot box. finally our country was acknowledging that women had a voice and that their voice was needed to be a part of this democracy. don't get me wrong. women were not instantly made political equals of men overnight, at least not in program -- at least not in practice. even today, despite making up more than half of the population, women do not make up half of the congress. that's something we're working hard on every day. thanks to the pioneering efforts of the suffragists and others who came before them, we've made progress, yes, and we've celebrated many victories, yes, from the very small to the very significant. just think, when i first came to congress in 2001 -- and i'm trying to see -- i saw my colleague from tennessee, but i don't believe she was here then -- we had to work to just get a restroom, a woman's restroom, to put in off the floor of the house of representatives. today i am one of 127 women who have the honor of serving our districts and states and country in congress. that's the most women to ever serve in the congress and across the nation there are countless future leaders. that's why i think this day is so important. i'm very proud of the history of my home state of west virginia. in 1951 elizabeth key took the place of her husband, the honorable congressman john key, to be the first woman to represent west virginia in congress. and we have another woman on the other side, carol miller, representing our state. elizabeth key had been her h.u.s. longtime -- her husband's longtime secretary, which by the way is not allowed today, and actually stood up against party leaders and said she should retain her position as secretary for the incoming appointee. she didn't listen to that. thank goodness. when the 26th amendment to the constitution was ratified in 1971, changing the voting age from 21 to 18, this was done at the dogged insistence of my predecessor, senator jennings randolph. but a proud west virginian, ella may thompson had dox, was the first person in the united states of america, a young woman from west virginia, to register to vote as an 18-year-old. i'm very honored to be the first woman to represent my state, and many of us are that in our states. with that honor, i feel a special obligation to help the next generation of young leaders. i started a cause called west virginia girls rise up, and with this program i travel and talk to fifth grade girls and talk to them about setting goals and work to achieve them. we talk about being a leader in whatever field their passionate about. my hope is that event isly these girls grow to engage citizens and leaders, not only women who vote but women who aren't afraid to run an office or run a boardroom or pursue a stem career or anything else they would desire. the 19th amendment brought women more than just the right to vote. in many ways, it gave us women more courage to run, to advocate, and to lead. i thank my completion for taking time -- i thank my colleagues for taking time today to celebrate the 19th women, to celebrate courageous women, to celebrate that our country is stronger now an will be stronger in the -- and will be stronger in the future because women are voting and women are leading. i yield the floor. i thank you. ms. collins: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: madam president, earlier i recognized senator barbara mikulski, an outstanding leader and former colleague and member of the women's centennial suffrage commission. i also want to acknowledge that there are other members of the commission who are seated in the gallery today. we welcome them as they observe this debate, and we thank them for their hard work to make sure that this significant occasion was recognized. it is now my great pleasure to yield time to the senator from washington, senator cantwell. ms. cantwell: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. ms. ms. cantwell: i thank the senator from maine for helping us coordinate this very important moment today. and i, too, want to celebrate the moment of our former great colleague who is helping us celebrate the important role of women's voices in american politics. i join my colleagues, madam president, today to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the senate's passion of the 19th -- passing of the 19th amendment and to honor all the women who struggled long and hard to make sure that our democracy included our voices, the voices of all women. those women who saw the promise of the united states and fought for their place in it, those women helped craft a more perfect union. for nearly a century, these women fought to be heard, and their efforts fundamentally transformed our democracy and our country. i am -- i'm very proud to represent a state with very strong women leaders. but today i want to recognize two women from my state, emma smith davoe and may hutton. in an era where women were given few opportunities, these two refused to be held back. they paved a wade for women to fully engage in the political process. tacoma resident davoe led the successful campaign to enshrine women's suffrage in washington's state constitution a full ten years ahead of the ratification of the 19th amendment. she helped win the right to vote for women in idaho in 1896 and led campaigns in other states speaking and organizing rallies and sit-ins and she helped fund and found the national council of women voters to continue nationwide suffrage movements and educate newly enfranchised women about politics across the country. her efforts got her the nickname, the mother of women's suffrage. may hutton, the other activist from our state, overcame a very difficult childhood. she and her husband became successful entrepreneurs and devoted much of their self-made wealth to activism. when they moved to spokane from idaho in 1906, may actually lost her right to vote in the process, so she quickly set up to work to change that injustice and win the franchise for women in every state in the territories to vote. she wrote, quote, women should vote because they have the intelligence to vote. they should vote because it gives them the responsibilities and the responsibilities fit women for all conditions of life. -- equally before the law. women should have a fair chance with men in the question of wages for the same work. there you go, a century ago someone standing up for women to have the same wage. that's the work we continue here today. the enfranchisement of women means a square deal for all, end quote. so may stood tall for more than just women's rights and she proposed extending the franchise to all adults regardless of sex, race, or color. washington's territorial legislature gave women the right to vote in 1883, but it was struck down by the courts. so it took the efforts continually of ms. davoe and ms. hutton and so many other women who finally gained the franchise in washington in 1910, a full decade before this right was guaranteed nationally. emma smith devoe and may hutton paved the way for so many women. we're proud of their aissue mr.s. as we honor them today, we must also recognize the struggle for equal rights is still not over. we have more to do. we know that our country is stronger, more representative, more successful when we include women at every table and at every boardroom and in every ballot box and in every discussion in our families and in our communities. but we need to just simply be reminded of the example of emma and may so that other suffragists know that we remember their work and are grateful for it and that we are going to continue the fight to get equal access and equal representation in all issues in the united states. i thank the president, and i yield the floor. ms. collins: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: madam president, i simply want to thank my colleagues for their participation today in bringing to the attention of the american people that this truly is an historic occasion, a date on which we celebrate the senate's passage of the 19th amendment granting women a long overdue right to vote. i want to thank all of my colleagues who participated in the speeches, the history that they brought from their individual states was or wherever books are sold. >> now to london for prime minister's question time from the bridge house of commons. prime mi

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