As a member of the Democratic Women's Working Group and Co-Chair of the Congressional Seniors Task Force, I will keep fighting for women's rights until they are completely secured. My daughters and granddaughters and millions of women and girls nationwide deserve our tireless efforts until we become a country where there is truly equality for all.
— Jan Schakowsky
The rise of franchising, contracting, and other similar employment practices has made it harder to enforce worker protections like minimum wages, overtime pay, and the right to unionize.
Our Committee should be focusing on real priorities - improving health care, combating climate change, creating jobs and making products safer - not attacking Planned Parenthood and undermining women's access to critical services.
Every year, Planned Parenthood serves three million Americans - men and women - and one in five women will receive care at a Planned Parenthood clinic in her lifetime.
The JCPOA is working - preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. It's time for the Republicans to start working, too.
Before Obamacare, only 12% of individual insurance plans covered maternity plans. Even without that important benefit, women were charged up to 48% more than men for the same benefit package.
The truth is the middle class is not only stagnant but it is my fear that, without sustained and focused action, it is at risk of disappearing.
As a country, we can make the commitment to provide quality long-term services - so that getting care doesn't depend on whether you are fortunate enough to have a loved one willing and able to provide it.
Higher wages for American workers are not just good for American families, they are good for our economy. I will keep fighting for a raise for hard working Americans so our families can afford housing, help their children get a quality education, and secure a good retirement.
American workers are the best in the world. They teach our children, care for our sick and elderly, build our communities, and much more.
We have a choice: we can allow the growing disparity between rich and poor to continue unimpeded, or we can take action to budget responsibly and strengthen and expand the middle class. If we want this economy - and this country - to meet its full potential, the choice is simple.
Investing in women at home and abroad strengthens families, uplifts our children, improves health, makes communities and countries more peaceful, and brightens our collective future. Where women have equality, security, and the opportunity to live, work, and prosper, their families and societies are better off.
As a Jew, support for Israel is in my DNA.
The 'People's Budget' rewards hard work and invests in our country. It ensures that everyone has an opportunity to get a good education, find a good job, live in a safe and secure home, put food on the table, have affordable health care, save for retirement, and maybe have a little left over.
Efforts to repeal Obamacare are misguided, dangerous, and just another instance of Republicans fighting the political wars of years past. But, health care shouldn't be about politics; it must be about helping people lead healthier lives.
I've seen the impact of deportation in my district. It is heartbreaking to see families torn apart for no good reason.
It is truly appalling for Senator Mark Kirk to equate the Obama Administration's diplomacy with Nazi appeasement. As a Jewish-American, I am offended.
Few things give me more pride and hope for our future than when I see women, of all ages and backgrounds, in leadership roles. We need even more women in elected office, running businesses, and guiding organizations.
Workers should not be prevented from bargaining with the companies that help set their wages, benefits, schedules, and workplace conditions.
The United States and our allies across the world are working every day to fight terrorism. We must continue those efforts, and we must promote peace and freedom.
One can only presume, despite unequivocal polling to the contrary, that Republicans believe relentlessly attacking womens' abilities to make their own health care decisions is popular and will help them win elections. I believe it is at their peril that they pursue this anti-women agenda.
The JCPOA has made the world safer. The deal ensures that Israel does not have to live with the threat of a nuclear Iran in its backyard.
I support negotiating authority to lower prescription drug prices.
The reality is that life expectancy has not improved for everyone. In fact, in some cases, life expectancy is actually decreasing.
If we can spend over $3 trillion on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, surely we can find the money to meet the long-term needs of our people.
We can afford to pay workers fairly, and it is the right thing to do. We also need equal pay for equal work.
As a first generation American myself, I know that comprehensive immigration reform is good for our country. I know it will reduce our deficit, grow our economy, reaffirm our values, advance our ideals, and honor our history as a nation of immigrants.
More than 180 countries around the world have ratified CEDAW, some with reservations. While the United States signed the treaty in 1981, it is one of the few countries that have not yet ratified it. As a global leader for human rights and equality, I believe our country should adopt this resolution and ratify the CEDAW treaty.
Since the Affordable Care Act allows individuals to buy affordable health care coverage on their own, women no longer have to remain in a job just for the health insurance - they can feel free to start their own business or care for a child or elderly parent.
When girls can get an education and women can work and run businesses or even serve as elected officials, the world benefits.
Jackie Berman, a 64-year-old widow and former special education teacher from Chicago, enrolled in Obamacare. She really needed coverage after sustaining serious injuries from being hit by a car. Now Jackie gets the care she needs at an affordable rate.
Obamacare does much more than provide coverage to the previously uninsured - it improves the quality of coverage for all of us. Critical cancer and other health screenings are free. Women and people with disabilities or chronic conditions are no longer charged more - or priced out of the market altogether.
For far too long, the Republican leadership in Congress has refused to act and pass comprehensive reform fixing our broken immigration system. In light of Republican inaction, I strongly support President Obama's executive actions on immigration.
I will continue to push for solutions to eliminate reliance on hired guns to provide security in war zones.
I will continue to do all that I can to ensure and enhance worker protections, including the right to bargain collectively.
I will continue to work to maintain Planned Parenthood's ability to provide excellent health care to millions of women.
The truth matters, and despite my objection to the creation of the Select Panel, as its Ranking Member, I will do all I can to ensure that as long at it continues, it will be as fair, transparent and objective as possible.
All across this country, undocumented immigrants are living in fear of seeing their families torn apart because of our broken immigration system. Many of those immigrants are children who were brought here at a young age through no fault of their own.
Republicans who oppose Obamacare have a responsibility to show that they can do better - not return us to the days when insurance companies alone decided who to cover for what benefits at what price. Otherwise, they should move beyond the repeal fights of the past, accept Obamacare as the law of the land, and work with us to make real improvements.
Without health insurance, getting sick or injured could mean going bankrupt, going without needed care, or even dying needlessly.
At some point in our life, each of us is very likely to be a care getter or a care giver or both.
Women are the overwhelming majority of the workers providing long-term support to seniors and people with disabilities. As a result, women are the ones most affected by legislative decisions on long-term care.
American workers deserve a raise. I fully support the push for $15 an hour and a union. We also must raise wages for low and middle income families.
Immigration reform is for those thousands of people in my district and the millions of people across the country who want nothing more than to work hard, provide for their families, and reach for the American Dream.
I am a fierce advocate for the economic empowerment of all women. In the Congress, I am one of the leaders of an initiative called 'When Women Succeed, America Succeeds.' It is an economic agenda for women aimed at making sure women have equal pay for equal work, paid sick leave, and affordable child care.
With affordable health care, women can have economic security and the peace of mind that they will not become a financial burden on their families.
The Republican 'Work Harder for Less' budget leaves more Americans even worse off than they are today. The 'People's Budget' makes the critical investments needed to give the American people exactly what they deserve - economic security and peace of mind - and helps grow our economy from the middle out.
Our goal should be to, together, to improve Obamacare so that even more people have access to affordable, quality health insurance and services.
I will continue to stand strongly with my fellow House Democrats, with immigration reform advocates and with millions of hard-working, law-abiding families who want simply to remain together and contribute to our great country.
President Obama's executive actions on immigration are designed to temporarily address major flaws in our broken immigration system.
