Women's Rights
Throughout the three and a half decades of my legislative career, I have been a friend to women and a champion to the issues that affect them. The 110th Congress is working on a variety of bills designed to close the gender gap that exists between men and women, and shatter any glass ceilings that might have held women back.
In March 2007, twin bills were introduced in the House and the Senate that, if passed, will finally amend the Constitution to create an Equal Rights Amendment.
I'm proud to have signed on as a cosponsor for the House version. It is long overdue, and an embarrassment to our nation that it has not been passed already.
When it reaches the floor, I will cast my vote enthusastically, and I will do all within my power to make sure the daughters of tomorrow grow up in a nation with a Constitution that respects their contributions to our world.
I lent my name as a cosponsor to HR 2831, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007. It amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination Act of 1967, the Americans of Disabilities Act of 1990, and the Rehabilitation Act of 1970 to clarify that every instance of discriminatory pay in the workplace is an offense.
I'm proud to say that it passed, and I'm looking forward to the Senate passing it next so that we can truly create fairness within the workplace.
I've always believed that it is not my place to tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her body. I support a woman's right to choose, and have voted consistently with those values.
Planned Parenthood Action Fund has already endorsed me in the Democratic Congressional Primary, and NARAL has rated me as "fully pro-choice".
Planned Parenthood of Memphis gave me the Bob James Award in 2007 for a long history of voting to preserve a woman's right to choice. I will continue to do so as your Congressman.