Bruce L. Braley: “I rise to commemorate an historic event that occurred in this Chamber 91 years ago during the middle of the Great War…”

“I rise to commemorate an historic event that occurred in this Chamber 91 years ago during the middle of the Great War, the war to end all wars. On January 10, 1918, this House passed a constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote by a vote of 274 to 136. Representative Jeanette Rankin from Montana, the first woman to serve in this body, whose statue appears in Statuary Hall and who became the first woman to serve in Congress in 1917, asked her male colleagues this important question in asking them to support that amendment: ``How shall we answer the challenge, gentlemen?'' Her question is worth repeating today as President Bush prepares to escalate the war in Iraq. We need to repeat her question: How shall we answer this challenge?”