Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Scanlon for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. Before I get to the points, I know that we differ on policy, but I have to tell you that I was offended by what I thought were racist and sexist comments made by my Democratic colleague about the Republican party makeup, and I totally disagree with her. Madam Speaker, to begin, I would like to clarify what H.J. Res 79 is. It is not the equal rights amendment. It is a date change. The legislation is a joint resolution removing the deadline for ratification of the equal rights amendment in States that the amendment shall be valid and adopted as part of the Constitution whenever ratified by the legislatures of three-quarters of the States. Democrats say this is about equal rights for women. Well, I am a woman, and so I, obviously, support equal rights for women. But I oppose H.J. Res 79 for the following reasons: First: The bill is totally unconstitutional. When the ERA originally passed on March 22, 1972, Congress explicitly set a deadline for ratification stating that the amendment shall be valid when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within 7 years from the date of its submission by the Congress. That meant that the final deadline was March 22, 1979, almost 41 years ago.…”