Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3285, the 21st Century President Act. A century ago, women in this country had only barely won the right to vote. Today, we have the first female Vice President, a female Speaker of the House, and record numbers of women running for Federal office. Although we still have a long way to go both in equality and representation, our country's government is growing closer to finally representing our Nation's brilliant diversity. Our laws must reflect the fact that a President and their spouse can be of any gender. That concept may have seemed impossible a few decades ago, but today it is, thankfully, a true and real possibility. Currently, our criminal code defines a spouse in the ``immediate family'' of a President as ``the wife of a former President during his lifetime'' and ``the widow of a former President until her death,'' implying that the spouse must be female and the President must be male in order for a threat against a former President's family to be treated as a crime. This completely disregards the fact that a President may be female and the President's spouse may not be. This does not reflect the progress we have made in this country. I am proud to vote ``yes'' for this bill, which passed out of this Chamber by a voice vote last Congress, and I encourage all of my colleagues to vote for its passage to support equality in our highest branch.…”