Our Women in Congress Kick Butt, Take Names

Even though women are 16 percent of Congress, the women we have representing us are continually kicking proverbial butt to stand up for women's rights. Here are just a few examples:

*Women in Congress, including Hillary Clinton, Patty Murray and Nancy Pelosi are speaking out against the Bush administration's proposal to change Health and Human Services regulations to redefine abortion to include certain birth control methods. There is no denying now that the neo-conservative agenda is not just about abolishing abortion, it's about completely taking family planning options, and therefore autonomy, away from women.

*Women in Congress are also rallying to pass two pay equity bills, the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, currently blocked by a Republican filibuster in the Senate, and the Paycheck Fairness Act, sponsored by Senator Clinton and Representative DeLauro.

The Paycheck Fairness Act would strengthen the Equal Pay Act for 1963 by providing for more remedies to victims of wage discrimination based on gender; it also amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to require the EEOC to collect wage data based on gender.

*And finally, one of the strongest women in Congress' recent history, Cynthia McKinney, will be the Green Party presidential candidate! The former six-term Congresswoman, one of the few to refuse to support Bush's preemptive strike that led to the War in Iraq, will run with hip-hop activist and writer Rosa Clemente as her Vice President. Now that's an exciting ticket! McKinney has been campaigning with the slogan "Power To The People" on a platform that calls for single-payer universal health care, the immediate withdrawal of American forces from Iraq and Afghanistan, the creation of a Department of Peace, and reparations for African-Americans. Her website says, "We have to do things we've never done before in order to have things we've never had before." That's exactly it! Too bad there is hardly a chance they could win from a third party, because McKinney/Clemente would make an amazing team to lead this country into a more just tomorrow.

I'm so thankful to have the strong women in Congress that we do, and that we have had; otherwise, where would we be?

I just love this picture of Nancy Pelosi.