Grace Meng: “I am so pleased to be here today to celebrate the 100th anniversary of women serving in Congress. I thank the Speaker…”

“I am so pleased to be here today to celebrate the 100th anniversary of women serving in Congress. I thank the Speaker for allowing this legislation to come to the floor. And I thank my good friend and former colleague, Secretary Zinke, for authoring this legislation with me. His support has been instrumental in ensuring the consideration of this bill, and I am deeply grateful to him. One hundred years ago, Jeannette Rankin was sworn in as a Member of the United States House of Representatives. She was the first woman elected to Congress, and was elected before passage of the 19th amendment which granted women the right to vote. Jeannette Rankin was a trailblazer her entire life. In 1902, she graduated from the University of Montana with a degree in biology. Afterward, she became active in the women's suffrage movement, moving to New York City and assisting in the founding of the New York Women's Suffrage Party and working for the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Rankin would eventually return to her home State of Montana, and was elected to office in the congressional election of 1916. Upon winning, she declared: ``I may be the first woman Member of Congress, but I won't be the last.'' I am happy to say that she was right. In recognition of Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin's many accomplishments, and in celebration of the centennial anniversary of her service in Congress, Secretary Zinke and I introduced the 100 Years of Women in Congress Act.…”