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Long Overdue

October 18, 2013
Pelosi Update

Unleashing the Power of America's Women
One hundred sixty-five years ago, a small town in upstate New York called Seneca Falls hosted a convention that changed the world. It was in that town that a small group of visionaries shook the world with a simple notion: that every right, every privilege, and every opportunity should belong to every man and every woman. The echoes of our very own Declaration of Independence can be heard in the Declaration of Sentiments of Seneca Falls: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men and women are created equal…Such is now the necessity [for women] … to demand the equal station to which they are entitled." What these courageous women did is simply astounding. They were leaving their homes and risking their livelihoods to organize the first women's rights convention the world had ever seen.

I was deeply honored and humbled to travel to Seneca Falls last weekend to be inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. Joined by 19 of my colleagues—fellow women Members of the House of Representatives—and inducted along with nine other astounding women, including the late First Lady Betty Ford.

As we look forward, there's much more work to do. For all the progress we've made over the last 165 years, we are still waiting to see the ideals of our democracy become a reality for America's mothers, wives, and daughters. We must fight onward. We must move upward. We must unleash the power of America's women. In Congress, the House Democratic women are answering that challenge with our economic agenda for women and families: When Women Succeed, America Succeeds.

This agenda stands on three pillars of work and family balance: Fair pay—raising the minimum wage and ensuring paycheck fairness; paid sick leave; and affordable, quality child care—the lynchpin for a working mother's success in the workplace. The agenda will unleash the power of our nation's women and, in doing so, grow and strengthen the middle class—the backbone of our democracy. When women earn equal pay, we know America's economy will prosper. When women ensure fairness and balance between work and family, we know American society will thrive. When women push onward, America moves upward.

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Congresswoman Pelosi speaks at her induction to the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York.

Congresswoman Pelosi speaks at her induction to the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York.

The End of a Manufactured Nightmare
Finally, the unnecessary Republican government shutdown that America endured for 16 days is over. The shutdown shook our economic security and growth. It jeopardized our credit rating, slowed GDP growth by 0.6 percent, and eroded consumer and investor confidence while taking $24 billion out of our economy. This recklessness was a luxury the American people cannot afford.

This shutdown has had a severe impact on people, on workers, on the economy. Federal employees throughout San Francisco were furloughed and unable to go to work on behalf of our nation. San Francisco's seniors were unable to apply for the Social Security benefits they earned. Many of our local small businesses—drivers of employment in the Bay Area—were unable to get Small Business Administration loans. And our beautiful national parks like the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, including Alcatraz and Fort Point, were closed to San Franciscans and tourists. The shutdown caused real damage to Americans, to Californians, and to San Franciscans.

But now we can finally begin what Democrats have been waiting seven months to do. We can go to the negotiating table to debate a budget, to create jobs. We can expand the economy, strengthen the middle class, and reduce the deficit in a meaningful way. From now on, we must stop governing from manufactured crisis to manufactured crisis and start working to find solutions so that we never again see a day where the government has been shut down and the full faith and credit of the United States of America has been called into question.